Overlord's Revenge
by Astrid16
Summary: When the Overlord returns to ninjago for revenge (cuz there's nothing else that a villain ever wants), the five ninja, must find a way to fight him off. But their old villain has teamed up with Pythor and the Serpentine, making the job much harder to complete. Zane is going to be my main characters for this one. Rated T for action and minor blood/gore.
1. In The Workshop

_It was brought to my attention that I called Zane's dad Julius instead of Julien. my apologies. I told my brother Julius was wrong but no... I just had to listen to him. screw sibling advice. _

"Darkness. Cold. Pain. Pain? That's something the Overlord hadn't experienced in many thousands of years. No pain like that. not since...The first fight. That small boy with the hurt leg came and hurt him even worse than the first spinjitsu master! How was it possible? He silenced his thoughts and collected his wits. He had been here before. The world between. He could get out, but only in spirit. His body would no longer be of any use in Ninjago.

He let out a long hiss. "He...Will...Pay..." He had to get out of here. He had to escape his body. He slowly made his way to the portal in the mountain of madness. It could take years- he didn't care. There would be no healing here. He just had to get there. "They...Will...Pay..."

"Hand me that red wire, would you Zane?" A quiet voice asked.

"Of course, Father." Zane replied.

"Thank you."

Zane nodded and turned back to his work. They had been at this project for months.

"It will be a true masterpiece when you have completed it, father. You have truly outdone yourself."

The elderly man chuckled.

"No greater than you, my son. Now come on, stop flattering me and get to work! I'm to old to do this myself, you know." Julien answered.

Zane glanced out the window at the morning sun peeking through the window, lighting up their shop. It was so beautiful. he turned and looked at the work that had made up the bulk of their morning. Of their year.

Zane turned to his father. "Have you decided his name?"

The elderly man peered through his spectacles, squinting, trying to adjust his eyes. "Perhaps." He said. "How about Cyrus?" he adjusted his glasses. "oh, hand me that screwdriver, will you?"

Zane smiled. "It sounds perfect, father." He grabbed the long, cold handle of the screwdriver. It was amazing, really, how he could feel things. His father was a wonderful inventor. Zane looked at the inside of the machine. "Soon," he thought, "I won't be the only cyborg around here. I sense things will be different around here after that."

He recalled the day he first flipped his memory switch, about a year ago. The flood of memories. Cooking with his father, playing with his fellow robot friend, the falcon his father had made for him as a birthday present for his tenth birthday. How he had watched his father grow old. Weak. How helpless he had felt.

He remembered his father flip 'off' his memory switch. How his memory went blank for years. How... Empty he felt. Without a purpose, without a history. How everyone shunned him, because he was different. The struggle to find his identity. To fill himself up and end the emptiness inside him. Everyone told him that he had amnesia. They said that someday he would remember his past. He waited patiently for years. During that hard time, he had met his best friends, partners and supporters. Yes, supporters. He certainly needed support when he found his memory switch again. When all those memories of his early life came back like a flash flood, filling him up again.

Zane chuckled. The look on his friends faces when he opened his chest. How Jay was the only one who knew how to make him feel comfortable, knowing that he was, as Jay had so affectionately called him, a Nindriod. That he was special, not strange. Different, but not wrong. How they had called him their brother, even though he wasn't truly human. The way Jay had laughed when he flipped his humor switch 'on.'

Zane sighed. All the things they had been through since then. How there was now no enemy, with Garmadon now working with, and not against the ninja. The Overlord unable to return in ninjago in his true form ever again, crippled forever. Yes, things were certainly better now.

"Zane?"

Zane jumped. "What? O-oh! yes, sorry father!" He jumped up and went to help him work. "Is it almost done now?" Zane asked.

"Yes." Julian said. "You finish with that panel there, while I download the AI program onto Cyrus from the computer."

Dr. Julian stood up and jumped over the mess of cords that went from the new robot to the main computer.

He felt as youthful as ever, now. Whatever Samukai gave him when he was at deaths door all those years ago, just minutes after he had flipped Zane's switch, worked wonders. It was such a shame, though, that Samukai had separated him from Zane for so many years. Ok, only a few years. Maybe three or four. But Zane was so real in every way, sometimes his maker forgot that Zane wasn't a real person. He felt that Zane was his son. And when you are separated from the ones you love, days can feel like years.

"Are you excited about your birthday today, Zane?" Julien asked his creation. Zane's birthday. The day that he first flipped his nindriod's power switch. The day he decided he wasn't alone anymore. That he finally, after all those years, had a son.

"yes, father!" His son replied as he moved to where his father was working and examined the cyborg's control panel.

A touch screen. So much different than the older system inside himself. But he was the first of his father's cyborgs. Of course they were going to get more advanced.

Julien stood up and went to the computer. "Why don't you go meet up with your friends?" Julius suggested, "This project is almost done. I will finish it, then follow you. Ok?"

"yes, father. Farewell." Zane said as he pulled on his boots and called his falcon.

The bird flew from its perch in a corner and flew to its master's side as he ran out the door.

Zane breathed in the brisk air as it swirled around him. The other four ninja said they'd meet him up in jamanakai village. He smiled as he thought about them. He never got tired of seeing his dearest friends and brothers. He let his cyborg mind wander as he continued to run tirelessly up the road leading to the mountains, his falcon flying above him.

Julien pressed the button with a feeling of finality. "Done." he sighed as he stood up and unplugged the wires from Cyrus's main control panel. "I can turn it on with Zane later. I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss it."

He chuckled as he walked toward the back of the shop. Toward the door that led to his private workspace. The door squealed in protest as he turned the handle and pushed it open. He chuckled again, obviously in an excellent mood. He walked in and found the switch next to the door. The strong light from the ceiling fixture revealed a dirty workspace cluttered with tools. He never cleaned in here, and hadn't let Zane come in since he started his secret project.

He walked to the opposite wall and pulled a key from his pocket. He inserted it into a small gap in the wall. The secret door opened, revealing more tools, dust, and a big box.

It really was an invigorating run. Zane loved nothing more than flying with his first friend during his free time in the cold mountains. Sometimes he would run for hours without rest.

After about three hours, he arrived in the village. He was to meet them in the town square, next to the fountain at noon. His internal clock told him that he was fifteen minutes early. So he went to the local well to get a drink and cool off a bit. More. Quite obviously, he loved cold. After all, he was the ninja of ice.

Zane looked around him and called his robotic falcon to his arm. "It is a truly beautiful day, my friend." He said as he walked back to the fountain. He had just reached it when a familiar voice shouted behind him.

"Surprise!" The voice shouted. "Happy Birthday!"

Lloyd. Of course. He was only about 14 years old, but stronger and taller than most men twice his age.

As Zane turned around to give him a friendly smile, he realized that if anybody was to complain about their early life, Lloyd had more right to than most. He was the son of the former dark Lord Garmadon, and had a mother who abandoned him at an early age. His father had dumped him off at a boarding school at an early age. He had decided that he grew up, he would become just like his father instead of following the guidance of his uncle, Garmadon's brother, Sensei Wu. After a long chain of mistakes, including unleashing the serpentine, he finally accepted the care of his uncle, and later realized that he was the prophesied Green Ninja. So he was forced to 'grow up' early because of the responsibility he now had. Not only that, but in a battle with the grundle, there was an 'aging tea' which would turn the grundle into dust and bones. Lloyd had no choice but to toss it. And while the grundle was defeated, The tea sped up Lloyd's aging process a few years, making his body not like a twelve year old's should, but a 25 year old. So he was literally forced to mature quickly, in a matter of minutes. It was painful, but Lloyd did his best not to complain. The hormones, Zane was sure, must have been overwhelming at first.

His mother had showed up later and helped guide them to the dark island, where his father and the Overlord were on the island building their secret weapon to control Ninjago. Lloyd, with the help of his team, eventually defeated the Overlord, and Garmadon's body was freed from the Great Devourer poison that made him turn evil so long ago.

It may not always seem like it, but Lloyd will take his job seriously when 'seriousness' is due. But quite frankly, he'll always be a prankster.

Two-minute puberty won't change your personality...Too much...

"Hello, Lloyd, where are the others?" Zane asked.

A disappointed look shot across his face. "Awww, come on!" Lloyd groaned, "can't I ever shake you? "

"No, you can't Lloyd. And we're right here." Cole said as he came to a stop at Zane's side, Jay and Kai behind him.

"The Destiny's Bounty is just outside of town waiting. We can begin the walk there whenever. How are you doing, Pinky?"

Zane laughed at the memory. "Fine. and how are you, dragon breath?"

"great!" Cole said. "I beat Jay's video game record this morning." He shot a playful glance Jay's way. "Man, that felt good!"

"Yea, to you!" Jay retorted, "I worked so hard for that high score! And you just walked right in and beat it! Who do you think you are anyways, you pile of stubble?" He added jokingly

"Better at video games than you, that's what!" Kai laughed

"Brothers!" Zane laughed. "It is so good to see you all! My father will be joining later. He is finishing up a project we've been working on for months."

"Show-off!" Kai poked at his arm. "You're just trying to make a point of saying that you've been more productive than us today!" He laughed again.

"Perhaps," said Zane, a twinkle in his cyan blue eyes. "Shall we begin the trek to the Destiny's Bounty?

"You bet!" Lloyd said. "I've got some extra energy to burn!"

"You've always got extra energy!" Jay said, "honestly, Lloyd! I don't think you'll ever truly grow up!"

"I did, too. And several years faster than you!" Lloyd retorted good-naturedly.

"Which is not very fair in my opinion." Said Cole.

"Fair?" Lloyd raises one eyebrow at him mischievously.

"Fair is not a word from where I come from!" They all say in unison, then burst out laughing.

"Come on," Kai said. "Plenty of time to talk on the way to the Bounty."

Dr. Julien looked at the big box, wiping away the thin layer of dust that had gathered. He let out a long whistle and a large robot rolled silently out of a corner in the main room and carried the big box to his blue car. He directed the bot back to the house. "Thanks, HL1" he said. the HL1 bot whirred and beeped in return, then rolled back into the house. After locking the door, Julien started the car and began the short drive to Jamonakai village.

Pain. Still the pain. His body was, in a way, frozen. It could not heal, could not deteriorate. The Overlord was relieved when he saw the portal. Now the pain would end. Now, he would have his revenge.

He could now cross over into ninjago. Without his body, of course. He had to go in spirit. He crawled over the edge of the cliff and into the shaft of light.

"...They...Will...Pay..." His voice still held the malicious tone it had two years ago, when he first went Between.

The bluish light engulfed him, and a sense of weightlessness came over him. Then suddenly the pain was gone. It was so sudden he gasped. The gasp quickly turned to a sigh of relief.

The surroundings began to change. The bluish-black that he had become accustomed to melded into a bright, unbearably bright light. Ninjago.

He looked around him. There were several shops lined up along a street. Being invisible to the eyes of man, he could float through town undetected. One shop in particular caught his eye. Ninjago Robotics Shop. He looked inside. one of the ninja!

The white one. With his father. Working on a robot. A plan formed in his mind. He would need to be patient. But soon, he would have a body again. A smaller, albeit weaker body, but a body nonetheless. He watched the white ninja leave with his falcon. A little while later, the old man load up a large box in the back of his truck with the help of a small robot. The old man drove away. The Overlord followed.

The five ninja reached the Bounty in about fifteen minutes. Their flying ship was parked in the lake. Lloyd have a call to his dragon. The huge, four headed beast appeared out of the surrounding trees and landed in front of him. They all climbed onto its back and flew to the ship. Once they were right above it, they all jumped off, landing neatly on the deck. The dragon flew back to shore.

"Hey, guys! a feminine voice welcomed them. "Happy birthday, Zane!"

"Thank you, Nya." The Nindriod answered.

"His dad will be arriving shortly, so don't take off yet, ok?" Cole said. he was the self- appointed leader of their team. he was a lot like Zane. Calm and collected. Unless there was cake around.

"Aye aye, cap'n!" Nya said. "Now lets get the cake and ice cream out and have a party. Hey, Cole. Could you..." He was gone.

"Where did he go?" Kai asked, bewildered. Lloyd pointed toward the kitchen.

"Okay. no more explanation needed there!" Zane stated. "Now lets get in there and see if there's any cake- or more importantly, Ice cream, left!" They ran into the kitchen and, to their surprise, Sensei was sitting at the table, eating cake with Cole like there was no tomorrow.

"Hello." Sensei Wu greeted them, a mouth full of cake.

Lloyd, of course, came to the rescue and saved six pieces. He handed out the slices of cake as they all exchanged greetings with their master.

"Greetings, Sensei." Zane said. "And if you'll excuse me, I shall go and eat the ice cream."

"Yea." Cole said, "go get that ice- Wait, no. Actually, don't!" too late.

Jay looked around the room. "where did he go?"

Kai rolled his eyes. "where do you think, Jay?" he laughed. "Lloyd, run and rescue the ice cream, would you?"

"Sure thing!"

"Thanks."

"Your not welcome, you lazy slob." Lloyd tried to make a straight face, but failed. Miserably. Everyone in the room started laughing. But Lloyd didn't mind. They were laughing with him, not at him. He ran to catch up with Zane.

"Hey, Zane!" Lloyd said as he came to a stop next to the big chest freezer. "You know, other people want ice cream too!"

"My apologies, Lloyd." Zane replied. "Let us go back to the others and share this treat."

Lloyd was confused. Why were the others concerned about him eating all the ice cream? he couldn't eat all that ice cream himself, anyway. there was a lot of it. "Come and help, Lloyd. I can't carry it all myself."

He sighed. Zane. His abnormal love of ice cream was somewhat humorous. Like Cole and his love of cake.

Lloyd balanced a stack of Neapolitan, chocolate, mint, and cookie dough, while Zane took the vanilla, moose tracks, strawberry and caramel fudge, and they walked back into the kitchen.

"Zane!" Jay was standing next to the window. "Looks like your Dad's here. We should go out and welcome him in."

Cole joined him at the window. "Look at that box! I wonder if that's your gift, Zane!"

"Lets go!" Kai was already running out the door.

Lloyd called the dragon and they all flew back to shore.

"Greetings, father!" Zane jumped off the dragon first and embraced Julien. It could not have been an hour since they had last seen each other, but neither of them cared. Zane was a 'huggie' person, as was Julius.

"Hello, son! Good news. I finished the project." Julien said, "Cole, can you get that box and bring it in? And please be gentle with it!"

"Consider it done, Doctor." Cole bowed comically. "Come on, you guys! I'm pretty curious to see what this is! Oh, yes. And Kai, can you put the ice cream back in the freezer? we might not eat it for a while longer."

"Ice cream?" Julius said excitedly, "the gift can wait! lets get some of dessert first!" And with that he jumped onto the dragon with a speed no one knew he possessed.

"I know where Zane's love of cold, creamy desserts came from now..." Kai said. Everyone laughed.

They all flew back, with Cole holding the huge box in front of him.

They landed and the dragon flew off again.

Julien ran to the kitchen.

"Come, brothers," Zane said, "before he eats all the deserts!" he followed his father to the kitchen.

"Uhh yeah. Zane? I'm not sure that's possible. there's a lot of it in there!" Lloyd shouted

"Yea, Lloyd.." Jay said, "Thats why we got so much! You remember last year, right?"

Or course they all remembered. Who could forget?

So the four ninja followed quickly. Between the inseparable pair, they just might eat it all before anyone else could get to it...

The Overlord had followed the old man the whole way to the ship.

As soon as the blue car had stopped, all the ninja flew out to greet him on their dragon. He watched them exchange words with the man. Then they all jumped back on the dragon and went back to the ship.

The Overlord followed.


	2. Pixal

"This is good ice cream," Zane said, "I love vanilla."

"You said it!" Lloyd replied. "But I prefer cookie dough."

Julien's mouth was too full to speak.

"I can't stuff another bite!" Jay moaned, "Who's ready to see Zane open his gifts?" He jumped up with sudden energy. "Come on, Nya!" Nya got up and followed him out.

Julien suddenly jumped up. "Ow! Ouch!" He said, wincing. "Brain freeze!"

Everyone laughed.

"I'm certainly ready!" Cole replied, "hold on a minute. Let me get my gift."

"Yea. We'll be right back, Zane." Kai said. The four ninja, sensei and samurai left Zane and his father alone. Zane stood up and helped Julien to his feet. They walked to the deck and looked over the edge into the water.

"I am quite excited to oped mine, father!" Zane said. "It wouldn't happen to be our latest project, would it?"

"Oh, no indeed, son!" The inventor replied, "Where's the surprise in that?"

"I suppose your right, father. I am truly stumped."

Cole walked back into the room, followed by the others. "Open mine first," he said with a big smile.

Zane took the box from him and opened it. "An ice cream cake!" he exclaimed, laughing. "Thank you, Cole. I shall truly enjoy this."

They continued handing him gifts. Lloyd got him a white apron. "it looks more becoming for a ninja," he winked.

Everyone laughed. His pink cooking apron had become the punch line of all their jokes.

Zane got a variety of things. Mostly in the ice cream form, but he could never get enough of the stuff, so it was fine by him.

Ice cream cupcakes, a gift card to his favorite ice cream shop in ninjago city, chocolate dipped cones...

"Now for your last present, Zane," Julien said, "the one from me. Open it."

Zane walked up to the box. It was as tall as him when it was standing upright, but now it was on its side. He reached out and opened the lid.

Inside was a robot. But this one was different than him. This one had long blond hair instead of short. And it was female

Zane was speechless. "Oh, father..." he whispered. "Thank you."

"I knew you would like it, son. Her name is Pixal."

"Pixal." Zane said softly.

Everyone gathered around the box, speechless.

Of course, Jay was the first to find his voice. "I think the Professor just wiped us all off the map." He remarked with a chuckle. Everyone else just nodded.

"Turn it on, Zane." The inventor pointed at its chest.

Zane took a deep breath and opened the control panel, which was identical to the one in the cyborg he and his father had been working on that morning.

Zane touched a section on the panel and watched her eyes slowly open.

"Hello, Pixal." Zane smiled shyly. "I am Zane. Let me help you up."

She grabbed the outstretched hand and slowly sat up for the first time. "Hello, Zane." She said as she got to her feet tediously.

Julien spoke up. "I programmed many things into you, Pixal, but nothing of the world we live in today. I want you to find that out for yourself. Everyone looks at the world differently. I only gave you basic information. You will have to paint your own picture of the world."

She nodded slowly as she took her first step, still holding her brother's hand.

"Pixal is like you, Zane. You don't own her. I just chose now to reveal her, to surprise you."

"of course, father! I wouldn't dream of owning her." He exclaimed, "thank you. This is the best gift you could have ever given me. I now have a sister."

"Welcome, Pixal!" Cole said, "it's a pleasure to have you on board."

"Thank you," she said, "may I ask what your name is?"

"Of course' Pixal. I'm Cole." He said. He put his arm over Jay's shoulder. "And this is Lightning Mouth."

Jay punched the muscular ninja on the shoulder and walked up to Pixal. He shook her hand. " don't listen to him. Heh!" He laughed. "That Cole. Always the joker. I'm Jay."

"Humph." Cole rolled his eyes and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Kai." He rubbed his fingers through his hair, making it stand out straighter.

"Lloyd. And this is Sensei Wu."

Pixal nodded. "I shall remember. A pleasure to meet you, friends."

"Let's help her to the kitchen," Zane said, "I am sure she would like to try some ice cream."

"I'm sure she'll like cake better," Cole said.

"Yea!" Kai said, "is she team cake, or team ice cream?"

"We'll soon find out!" Jay said, "Lets go!"

They all went to the kitchen.

"Here, Pixal, sit down." Zane said. She shakily sat down on the bench. she was watching everyone intently. Lloyd thought it was slightly creepy, but then thought, "she's just taking everything in. I'm sure she'll adjust soon."

"Pixal has all the features you have, Zane," Julien said as bowls of cake and ice cream were passed around, "funny switch, memory switch, the whole deal."

"Neat." Jay said as he started to eat his dessert. Everyone else did the same. Except Pixal. She just watched them with a strange intensity one by one. she stopped a little longer on Cole, cocking her head to the side as she made eye contact with him. Cole blushed slightly, a little unnerved that she was staring at him like that.

"it's how she will learn, Zane." Julien whispered when he saw the quizzical look Zane had as he watched his new sister stare at his best friend. "You may remember, you did the same thing. Watching. You mostly just watched me do everything for days. She will learn quicker than you did, though. Because she is more advanced. Don't get me wrong, son!" He reassured him, "I'm working on new software for you as well. and she is not better than you. Newer software means absolutely nothing. You are both equal, and a part of my family. You will always be my son. And now, she will be my daughter. I will love you both the same forever."

Zane pondered this. "I know, father. I know you couldn't stop loving me. Just as I cannot stop loving you." He smiled at his maker. His maker smiled back. "And we shall love our newest family member, too." Julius added in a louder voice. "Try this stuff, Pixal. I think you'll find it enjoyable." He handed her a bowl of desert.

Pixal looked around the room at all the faces, at the way they used the spoons. She would try to do this, too. She grabbed the spoon next to her clumsily and jabbed it into the bowl of ice cream and cake. She lifted the spoon and took a bite.

"Not bad," she said. She took another bite, and just sat there chewing thoughtfully. I like this... Cake. The ice cream is ok, but not as good.

Cole cheered. "Welcome to team cake, sister!" He said, hitting her on the back a little more gently than he would have done for one of his brothers. He didn't know how sensitive she was, and it was better not to risk hurting her feelings.

Pixal smiled. Zane examined her face. Her smile was magnificent. Full of joy, and just the right amount of shyness. Father had truly outdone himself. She was a perfect sister.

Zane had an idea. "Try this, Pixal," he said, handing her a piece of the ice cream cake that Cole had given him earlier.

She took a bite. "Hmm." She hummed thoughtfully, "No, I like this better than cake." She ate faster.

Cole put on a fake pained expression that quickly turned back into a smile. "Ok, that's fine with me. Congratulations, Pixal, you have just officially made a new team. Go Team Ice cream cake!" He cheered.

Pixal stood up to made a comical bow, and ended up falling forward onto her face.

Zane stood up quickly to help her, but she brushed him off and got back on her feet quickly, laughing at herself.

"Clumsy me!" She giggled. Jay started snickering.

Pixal looked at Jay and started laughing hard. Jay did the same.

"Looks like Julien has made some progress with that humor switch!" Jay said after the laughing fit had subsided a bit. He made eye contact with Pixal, and they both burst out laughing again.

Everyone else watched them, completely confused.

"I sense Jay has finally found someone with a sense of humor like himself..." Zane said after a minute of watching this.

"Yes. It would appear so!" Kai said, not taking his eyes off the scene.

Nya walked into the room moments later. "Are we ready to take off now, Cole? I..." She saw the scene in front of her.

"Jay?" She asked, "what are you doing?"

"I...I..." Jay couldn't control himself. "Help!" He chortled.

Nya looked over at Sensei Wu, who was keeping a straight face with some obvious difficulty as he sipped his tea.

Zane looked absolutely confused. He scratched his head, slightly ruffling his blond hair.

"whoops!" Julien said, twiddling his fingers, "I might have overdone it. I wanted her to have a good sense of humor, but..."

He looked over at Jay and Pixal and chuckled. "I never thought I would see the day. I thought it was impossible to find anyone with a sense of humor like Jay."

Jay forced himself to calm down, a process which took a whole lot longer than it should have.

Pixal was able to stop herself a little faster. She composed herself and sat back down quietly. Jay was still chuckling softly as he sat back down in his seat. "What were we even laughing at?" He asked no one in particular. As he expected, no one answered.

"Well...Okay..." Nya said. She cleared her throat. "Are we ready to leave now, Cole?"

"Yes. Yes we are, Nya." Cole answered, "full speed for Ninjago city!"

Nya made a comical salute as she pulled Jay from his seat. "Come on, Jay. let's get this ship airborne. Lloyd, tell the dragon to follow us." she said as she pulled a red faced Jay out of the room. "But you can do it yourself just fine, Nya." Everyone heard Jat whine in the hallway.

Cole snickered quietly, covering his mouth to make it look like a soft cough. Jay and Nya were going to have a long talk about this.

The Overlord watched them, the ninja, as they opened their presents. None of them really caught his eye. Except that last one. that robot... He watched them as they ate the desert. He noted how intelligent that female robot was.

Then he saw the other female a human, who had just walked in a minute ago to see the strange laughing fit. He heard the black robed leader say where they were going. Ninjago city. Perfect. Time to put his plan into action. He got off the ship and floated over the water. He reached land and floated through the woods. He had to find the Tombs.

But that dragon. It sensed his presence and jumped toward him, all four heads snarling at the invisible menace. He floated away even faster. He wasn't afraid of being hurt, since that was impossible in his state, but rather of the other ninja seeing the dragon's antics and suspecting he was here.

It started to follow him, but that green ninja... The most detestable of the lot... Lloyd, was it? Called the beast back. He continued to float away at a swift pace.

The Overlord growled to himself. He may have been recognized. He hoped that Lloyd hadn't guessed what the dragon was doing. He continued his journey to find the ally.

Pythor wandered the streets of his city, ourobourus. Where was scales? Where were his fellow serpentine? He had been searching for days. Ever since.. Ugh. he didn't even want to think about it. Being inside that beast's belly was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. And that was saying something. He had been through a lot in his lifetime.

He decided to go and check the tombs. Maybe, just maybe, they were all hiding. Since Garmadon destroyed the Great Devourer, he had found no sign that they were even alive anymore. but he would continue to look until he found them or their remains.

It had been two years. Pythor slithered through the large, echoey cavern. The tombs.

They had once been separated by miles of rock. But after Lloyd helped them escape, all the serpentine had worked together and connected all five by way of small tunnels, making one big chamber in the center.

He was losing hope. There had been no sign of them. No one had seen them since the NinjaBall Run. He had almost caught them then, but it seemed like the fates were determined to keep them apart. The four tribes had disappeared.

Pythor sighed. What would he do now? He slithered through the only tunnel he hadn't checked. The Anacondrai tomb.

The overlord floated through the tunnel toward the tall figure. It had taken him a whole day to reach this area. He hoped this trip wouldn't be futile.

"you want to know where your friendssss are, Pythor?" He asked as he floated up behind him

Pythor whirled around to face the owner of the voice. Nothing. "Oh, no." He whispered. "Great. I'm hallucinating now." He sighed and kept moving.

"Fool." The Overlord said. Pythor stopped. "I know where your friendsss are, you fool."

"Fool?" Pythor spat. "who is the fool in this room? the one trying to find his tribe, or the one who cowers in the darkness out of fear?"

"I am no fool!" the overlord said, his temper rising, "and I am not hiding, either. I am right behind you."

Pythor whirled around again. "what are you?" he asked, fear registering in his eyes, "an Anacondrai? I thought I was the last one."

"No." The voice hissed. "I am more powerful than a puny Anacondrai. Now, I am only a ssshadow of my former self, yet I am still ssstronger than you!" The voice raised in anger. "

"Who are you?" Pythor asked, now trembling.

"I go by many namesss." He hissed. "but you can call me Overlord."

"Why are you here?"

"Stop trying my patience, you insufferable worm! If I didn't need you, you would have been dead by now! Cooperate!"

Pythor still couldn't see him. He turned his head from side to side, trying to find the speaker. Still nothing. He was truly terrified now. His pupils dilated. "All right." He said, "What do you want me to do?" ****************************************************************************************************************************


	3. Concerning Aprons

**hey guys! sorry, this chapter may be a bit dull, just hang in there! please give me suggestions, I may use them! **

Lloyd pushed the door open and walked out on the deck, whistling for the dragon and scanning the horizon. He saw the four headed beast moving away from him at a pace that suggested that it was chasing something.

"Hey!" Lloyd called. "Come back here, guys!" He said 'guys' for lack of a better name. It can be confusing trying to call a dragon that at one time was four different dragons with different masters. Lloyd had wondered many times over the past few months which head actually controlled the body.

"Shard!" He tried calling again. The cyan colored head looked at him for a moment, then continued flying away.

"Rocky! Wisp! Flame!" He was getting impatient. "All four of you! Whats gotten into you?" He put his hands on his hips and sighed. Time to get assertive. "Get back here now!" He bellowed. The head in charge, whichever one it was, must have heard him, because the beast made a sharp turn and glided back to its master.

Lloyd jumped onto the beast's back and patted it gently. "Good boy...Or girl..." He was confused. "Or are you both?" He gave up with a laugh. "Nome of my business, I'm sorry." He patted its neck again and called to Nya through his watch.

"All clear now, Nya!" he said, holding down the button. "Prepare for takeoff!"

A scratchy voice came back through the small speaker. "Yes sir!" There was a pause, then the ship let out a loud rumble that Lloyd was certain must have given every fish in the lake a heart attack. The booster rockets kicked into gear and the Bounty slowly lifted into the air, its white and red decorated sails touching the clouds.

Lloyd grabbed the dragon's reins and made him...Her... Fly above the ship. "I'm going to jump down now, ok?" Lloyd said. "Follow us, ok buddy?"

The dragon growled in response and let Lloyd slide down his tail onto the deck of the flying ship.

"Good dragon." Lloyd shouted above the winds. "Stay close." He ran inside, shivering. He didn't like the high altitude flying, but Nya had said that when the winds were going where we were headed, we should fly the ship a lot higher so that it would pick up more winds and go faster without using as much fuel. Lloyd decided he would try to get used to it.

He used his fire powers to make his body into a living heater. he sighed with relief. That was much better. He just had to make sure he didn't touch any paper. Once he made the mistake of going into Jay's work space while he had his 'heaters' on, and ended up burning half of the designs on his shelf because he backed into it. Thankfully, Lloyd put it out with his ice powers kn a few seconds, before everything Jay had there was ruined.

Jay freaked out like the Great Devourer was after him again. It was sort of funny, actually, how he squeaked while he was rambling on and on about all the designs Lloyd had just ruined. Cole came in with a video camera hidden where Jay couldn't see it and caught most of temper tantrum on tape.

Jay still doesn't know about the footage. They all (the other four ninja, Sensei, even Nya,) vowed to keep it secret until they all had agreed on the right time to show him. And then they would take another secret video of him watching his fit on screen and see what he does. Lloyd was certain it would be hilarious.

He saw Pixal by herself in the hallway, staring at one of the planks of wood on the wall. He stopped next to her, trying to see what she saw.

"Uhh, hi, Pixal." He smiled awkwardly. She didn't even acknowledge his presence.

"Are you lost?" He said after a minute of awkward silence. Still nothing. She didn't move any part of her mechanical body. Was she broken? He tapped her shoulder. "Hello? Earth to Pixal?" She finally looked at him.

"Hello, Lloyd." she said in her feminine voice. Not like Nya's voice, though. It was a little deeper. "May I help you with something?"

Lloyd resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I was going to ask you the same thing, Pixal."

She smiled. "No, but thank you. You are too kind. I was just examining this wood." She looked at the plank again. "I thought the patterns on its face were quite fascinating."

"I could see that." Lloyd said, trying to politely walk away. "Well, if you don't need help I guess I'll see you later." He waved and ran off. He wondered of Zane had been like that his first day powered up too. Most likely a yes on that one. For as long as Lloyd had known him, Zane has had a strange fascination for the most random objects. Zane was just one of those people. Not that was a bad thing, it was just... Inhuman. He smiled at the irony of what he had just thought.

"Speaking of Zane," Lloyd said under his breath. "I'll bet he is cooking dinner. Its his night. So he'd better be wearing that apron I bought him." He ran to the kitchen to see what was for dinner (and what color of apron he was wearing.) Lloyd bought that white apron for the sole purpose of seeing if Zane wore that ugly pink one simply because he didn't have any other one, or if he actually did like pink. Lloyd secretly suspected the latter.

He walked into the kitchen, actually surprised to see Zane in the white apron.

"Greeting, Lloyd. What brings you here?" Zane said. He was at the counter chopping vegetables.

Lloyd shrugged. "I guess I wanted to see if you needed help. It is your birthday, you know. You shouldn't be all alone cooking your own birthday meal."

Zane looked up, a surprised expression on his face. "You came in here to help?" He said incredulously.

Lloyd nodded, confused. "Yea. Why?"

Zane smiled mischievously. "You didn't come in here because you smelled... something special?"

Lloyd sniffed the air. His mouth opened into a wide smile. "Oh! You made your secret cookie recipe. Was that it?"

Zane nodded and tossed the greens into a bowl.

"Well, no actually. I didn't smell that until you brought it up."

"Oops." Zane said as he grabbed a bunch of carrots and started to chop them into bite size pieces for the salad.

Lloyd couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "So. Do you want help?"

Zane shrugged and looked up from his work. "Depends." He went back to chopping.

Lloyd rolled his eyes. Zane was so weird. "On what?"

Zane scooped up the pile of carrots and dumped it into the bowl of greens. He then went for the ingredients for the dressing. He started mincing the garlic.

"Did Cole teach you how to cook?" He said finally.

Lloyd shook his head. "No. I've never made a meal before in my life."

Zane looked up at Lloyd in shock. "Ouch!" He dropped the knife and jumped over to the sink. he put his hand under the water. After a moment, he turned his gaze to Lloyd in shock. "You've never cooked?" he asked in disbelief.

Lloyd jumped to his rescue, grabbing the paper towels that were just out of Zane's reach on the other counter. He tore off a sheet and gave it to his Nindriod friend.

"Thank you, Lloyd." He said as he pressed the paper towel to his wound.

"No problem." He set the paper towels down on the counter and looked at them with alarm. That's right. He still had his fire element on. He quickly iced the glowing roll and cooled himself down. He picked up the freezer-burnt (bad pun) paper towels and threw them in the trash bin before Zane had a chance to see what was going on. He reached onto a cupboard and replaced the roll in a flash.

"Let me see that hand." Lloyd said.

Zane turned off the faucet and went to him. Lloyd examined the cut. "Its not that bad." Lloyd said. He reached into a cupboard and got a first aid kit. He opened it up on the counter next to them and selected a small bandage. He wrapped the finger and grabbed the reddened paper towel out of his friend's hand. He threw it behind him. It landed neatly inside the garbage can.

"Nice shot. You've been practicing." Zane praised him.

"Thanks." Lloyd turned pink.

"No. thank you, Lloyd." Zane said, flexing his fingers. "I cannot grasp the fact that you have neglected to make a single meal your whole life." He continued, "I must change that. Seeing that you have not trained under Cole, I would be happy to let you cook with me tonight."

Lloyd grimaced at the thought of Cole's cooking. Last night had been his turn. He made what he called a pot pie that he claimed his 'adoring fans loved to death.' One thing was for sure, Jay agreed with the part about 'Death.' Kai asked if his 'adoring fans' were the dragons, and if that was why Flame's breath always smelled so bad.

Cole pummeled Jay into the floorboards playfully.

Lloyd had put his finger in the bowl and burned the glop to a crisp while Cole was occupied with giving Jay another series of scars.

When Lloyd finished burning it, he considered dumping the remains out the open window, but then he thought of the poor farmers who lived down there. Lloyd was concerned that the ashes would make the soil Cole's poison landed on infertile, so he just scattered the handful of dry gunk on the floor. It was his turn to sweep anyways.

Kai saw what he did and followed his example with his elemental blade under the table.

Cole saw that their bowls were empty and so they therefore saved themselves a pounding. Cole actually calmed down considerably when he saw the empty bowls. He smiled and pointed at Lloyd. "You see, Jay?" He said, looking at the dazed man in the floor, "Lloyd and Kai liked it." The overly buff and cut ninja folded his rippling muscled arms on his chest with satisfaction.

Sensei, who had been watching how the two fiery ninja dealt with their food, was trying really hard not to laugh, nearly choking on his tea.

Lloyd chuckled to himself at the memory.

"What's so funny, Lloyd?" Zane asked him, tilting his head to the right ever so slightly.

Lloyd shook himself out of the daydream. "Oh, nothing." He gathered all the first aid supplies and put them away in the cupboard. "I never saw what you did with your dinner last night, Zane. How did you dump it?"

Zane looked at his young friend nonchalantly. "I didn't." He said.

Lloyd's eyes bulged out of his head. "You ate it?" He asked incredulously. "And you are still alive?"

Zane nodded and opened the panel on his left arm. I installed a new mode on myself. When I flip this right here," he pointed to a small switch in a corner of the panel labeled in tiny lettering 'Taste', "I can't taste a thing. It still feels wrong going down to say the least, but Cole is my best friend, and I wanted to please him. Someone had to actually clear their bowl, right?" The slightly humored look on his face said he knew what Lloyd and Kai had done last night. Lloyd rolled his eyes. "You would have done the same if you weren't able to reprogram yourself. Don't deny it."

Zane pondered this for a moment. "Perhaps. But I shall never know for certain." He smiled in a queer that Lloyd knew only Zane could conjure up. He knew for certain now. Zane's humor switch was on right now. That meant it was only a matter of time before someone got pranked. And Lloyd knew for certain that Jay would be on it as well. They were always into this kind of stuff together when Zane's switch was on.

Lloyd was suddenly nervous. Were the lights going to go out and reveal a glowing head? He had not seen the light up feature on Zane until the four ninja had pranked him with it a few weeks back. It still creeped him out to think about it.

"What's wrong, Lloyd?" Zane asked as he picked up his knife and began mincing the garlic again. "You look nervous."

Lloyd shrugged, trying to act somewhat calm. "I don't know. I just feel like someone is watching us. Do you feel it?"

Zane closed his eyes for a moment. "Nothing unusual here." He said after a moment. He set down the knife and walked toward the closet.

"If you are going t help me, Lloyd, you will need an apron." Lloyd's heart dropped into his stomach.

"No!" He shouted. "You can't make me!" He put up a force field around himself. "Not the pink one, please!" He held out his arms, making the greenish-yellow orb glow brighter.

Zane grabbed the apron and turned to him, not in the least bit surprised, concerned or amused. He looked, quite simply, like a robot for once.

"Lloyd." He said in a friendly tone, as if he were talking to a person behind the counter at a grocery store instead of a hostile and very powerful ninja. "You know, that force field has to come down eventually. You can't hold your arms out like that forever."

He was right. But Lloyd wasn't going to give in that easily. "Try and make me come out!" He challenged.

Zane shrugged and turned to put the apron away. "Very well. But I cannot get any cookies through that wall."

Zane knew how to beak him. "Fine." He grumbled. He released the force field.

Zane's expression hadn't changed. He handed the apron to Lloyd. "It is important to make sure we take steps to ensure we are clean after cooking, you know."

Lloyd grumbled something inaudible under his breath and snatched the apron from the white ninja's bandaged hand.

"Where do we start?" He sighed.

Pythor looked down the dark hole. "They are down there?" He asked.

"Yes." Overlord hissed. "Did I not already sat that? Get going! I will follow you."

"How comforting." Pythor said under his breath as he slowly maneuvered down the steep path, using his staff as a form of balance. This was one of those times when he wished he had legs like the majority of the population again. He sort of missed having legs, but definitely didn't want to go back to being a normal Serpentine, being the one who followed the orders instead of gave them. He would survive with having less traction than his soon-to-be followers. He just hoped that the Overlord was correct about where he had sensed the Serpentine tribes were at.

The passage was dark. Pythor supposed that the ordinary, detestable human would not be able to see at all in this light. But he felt right at home here. His glowing eyes gave him enough light to see with. No more, no less. It was perfect. He did not really like bright lights. He was ok with them, and could stay outside under the blazing hot sun for many hours if necessary, but nothing could beat plain old grey light.

He stopped after about an hour of slithering in silence. He didn't hear a single sound out of the Overlord the entire trek underground, so when he heard the low, menacing hiss behind him he let out a shout.

"We are here." Overlord said. Pythor jumped and felt his cold reptilian heart drop into his stomach for a moment at the sound.

He looked at the wall that blocked their way. There were runes of a language lost to him long ago. "What does it say?" Pythor asked.

"It doesn't matter." Overlord said curtly. "Just push the button."

Pythor saw a small button under a picture of a snake wearing a crown. "Is that Scales?" Pythor said to himself, though he knew the answer. Of course it was Scales. Who else would be the one to take charge after he disappeared into the Devourer's belly?

Pythor pushed the button into the wall and coughed as the door opened, involuntarily releasing a cloud of dust as it rose into the ceiling.

He peered inside. "Scales?" He called into the bleak darkness. He got an answer after a few seconds.

"Pythor?" The voice asked in surprise and relief. A figure slithered out of the settling dust and came face to face with him, flaming torch in one hand, golden Hypnobrai staff in the other. Scales latched himself onto his taller purple friend. "It isss you!" He said. "My friend, you are truly a sight for sssore eyes."

Pythor counted impatiently to ten before peeling himself away from the blue Serpentine general. "Good to see you too, old friend." He said. "But time is of the essence. Where are the other generals? We need to call a meeting."


	4. Lighting's Fire Hazard

Warning, T rating for a reason. Nothing bad, just a passing comment that may or may not go over the younger audiences heads. Enjoy and leave a comment!

"What?" Lloyd asked, not believing he had heard Zane right. "I'm sorry. Did you just say I have to serve the food in this?" He said, gesturing to the pink apron with a look of disgust.  
Zane nodded. "Yes, Lloyd. My kitchen, my rules. I say you have to wear the apron until we start eating."  
Lloyd was seeing the not-so-subtle hint of humor switch coming through in his tone and scowled. "Fine." He spat. He snatched a bowl of pasta from the counter and went for the door. "Your gonna pay for this."  
Zane pretended he didn't hear that last part as he grabbed the salad with one hand and a loaf of bread with the other. Balancing them carefully, he followed Lloyd, who's face was as pink as the apron itself.  
Zane put on a winning smile as he set the large bowl and plate on the table before his friends. "Dinner is served." He beamed.  
Lloyd gave a sarcastic smile as he set down the spaghetti. He lifted his arms to show off his new outfit. "What do you think, boys?" He asked with false enthusiasm, posing a ridiculously provocative pose.  
Jay snickered. "Looks like Zane finally has his revenge for the Pink Ninja incident." He poked Kai's arm, and in turn the fire ninja frowned and scooted further down the long bench away from Jay.  
"Thank you for reminding me." Lloyd deadpanned. "because I wanted to remember all the laundry I did after that."  
Cole smiled cheekily at Zane and reached for the bread knife. "Smells good, Zane." He said, slicing the loaf into large slices for everyone. "A perfect birthday dinner." He looked at Zane quizzically. "I can't believe this hasn't come up before, but how old are you, anyways?"  
Zane grabbed the butter dish. "Seventy four ." He said nonchalantly.  
Cole looked surprised. "That can't be right," he scratched his chin. "You don't look like you could possibly be older than thirty."  
"But it does make sense, Cole." Julien reasoned. "I made him when I was..." He thought for a moment. "I was twenty nine when I began the project. I finished it when I was perhaps thirty one?"  
Zane nodded. "I believe that is correct, father. And according to my memory, you passed at the age of eighty six. And then I spent many years after that in the Northern Villages." His face darkened considerably, contorting his handsome, almost elven features with anxiety. "But the past is in the past. And I'd rather not dwell on those years."  
Kai nodded. "Zane's right. It doesn't matter. Besides, If his cooking has improved with his age, that would explain the deliciousness of every meal he serves."  
"Yea." Cole said. "He's getting close to beating me in the field of culinary work."  
Jay laughed.  
"Yes, Cole. He is giving you a run for your money, to say the least." Kai said, choosing his words carefully.  
Cole beamed at what he thought was a compliment.  
Nya opened the sliding door and walked into the room and sat down between Jay and Kai.  
"Hey, guys." She said pleasantly.  
"Greetings, Nya." Julien said with a smile as he loaded up his plate with noodles. "Have you seen Pixal?"  
Nya nodded. "Yea. She was in the bridge with me. She should be right..." She looked over her shoulder. "She didn't follow me inside?"  
"Apparently not." Jay said. He set down his fork and stood up. "I'll go get her."  
"No you won't." Nya said firmly. She stood up and smiled quickly, ruffling his hair. "I'll get her. You stay here." She turned on her heel and left the room, not bothering to slide the door shut behind her.  
Everyone stared at Jay questioningly.  
Jay shrugged and scratched the back of his head nervously. "I think she is jealous of Pixal or something." He explained as he tried to pat his hair back down. "She thinks I like the robot more than her. No offense Zane!" He said, looking at the Nindriod, who was buttering a slice of bread. "It's just that she isn't my type. She doesn't seem to have what I want, you know? She sort of lacks the human qualities needed for me to be a dad one-" He slapped a hand over his mouth. His face flushed a deep crimson.  
Everyone looked at him. Cole started choking and hacking loudly.  
"What did you say?" Kai turned his head and gave Jay a look that said there were going to be more bruises to tend to that night. Broken bones were more likely.  
Jay screamed, much like a twelve year old girl might, as Kai jumped from his seat and began to chase Jay with his elemental blade drawn, a fire flying out of it. He chased Jay around the table, a fire brighter than his sword shining in his brown eyes.  
Nya had the good fortune to walk in right then with Pixal. She stopped short at the scene in front of her.  
"Kai!" She exclaimed, jumping out of the way just in time to let Jay pass through the door. Pixal wasn't as fast and got knocked to the floor. Kai jumped over the cyborg and continued after the screaming blue ninja without missing a step.  
"Jay you bastard!" Kai shouted, temper hotter than Nya had heard in a long time. That concerned her deeply. "Get back here so I can teach you a lesson!" She heard his voice in the floorboards beneath their feet. She looked up at the remaining ninja in shock. "What just happened?" She said, helping Pixal to her feet.  
Lloyd looked sort of sick, while Cole wheezed into his napkin. Sensei poured himself a cup of tea, pretending he had no clue what was going on, while Julien looked rather thoughtful.  
Zane looked pale. He stared off at a fixed point in the distance, a look of displeasure on his face. She walked over to where he stood, the small tray of butter still clutched in his hand.  
"Hey. you ok, Zane?" she asked in a concerned tone.  
The butter dish shattered on the floor, making Nya jump back in surprise. She looked up at his face in shock. "Zane, what's wrong?" She asked.  
"Excuse me, please." Zane said as he bolted for the door without making eye contact with anyone. He was gone in an instant.  
Nya threw her hands into the air. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?!" She shouted at no one in particular.  
Cole finally got himself breathing normally again. "I think you'd better talk with your brother about this. Not us." He looked flustered.  
What in all of Ninjago was this about? She ran to find her brother, praying a silent prayer that Jay was still alive, and that Kai wouldn't start the ship on fire.

Pythor took a deep breath as he slithered onto the podium. He blinked, trying to get the dark spot out of his eyes from the sun that beat down heavily on Ourobourus. The audience of Serpentine soldiers sat around the stadium, waiting impatiently for the speech. There was a low hissing noise that floated through the air as the snakes conversed in whispers. The four Generals stood around the purple Anacondrai.  
"Fellow Serpentine!" Pythor's voice carried over the dunes. There was silence. "I have gathered you all here today for a proposition." He smiled a large, toothy smile. "Now that we have been united, we are stronger than ever before."  
"Before when, Pythor?" Scales hissed. "We've lost almost half our numbers in the cavern. We had to eat sssomething, You know."  
Pythor knew Scales was right. The tribes numbers had shrunken considerably, due to lack of other foods to eat in that cave. Even one of the generals had become lunch. He looked at Fangdam, the new Fangpyre general. Apparently the second in command had challenged Fangtom to a duel. The two-legged, mute snake had won, becoming the new General and giving his tribe a decent meal that night.  
Pythor continued speaking. "Yes, we have lost a great many of our numbers. But they were the weak snakes. We are the survivors, the ones who beat the odds and proved to this cursed world how strong we really are!" He shook his golden staff above his head. "I say, let me lead you again, and we will drive these surface dwellers back where they belong, so we can rule Ninjago!"  
He heard an immense amount of cheering from the audience. He smiled as his staff landed on the hard rocky surface he shared with the other generals with a thud.  
Acidicus laughed heartily. Scales and Scalidor joined in a moment later. Fangdam just shook his two heads in pity.  
Pythor was confused. This wasn't like before, when he had tried to win over the tribes with humor. This was different. They were laughing at him. Mocking him.  
"What are you laughing at?" He asked uncomfortably.  
Scales stopped laughing first. "Pythor." He said. "You have no idea how ridiculous you sssound right now." He pointed to his head. To the coveted crown that Pythor wanted so badly.  
"You see this, Pythor?" He asked. "This means I am in command. Do you realize how badly you have messed thingsss up?"  
Acidicus nodded. "Yes. Like releasssing the Devourer."  
"Like sending us on that wild goose chase in the first placcce." Scalidor hissed in a deep voice.  
"And just standing there, fffrozen with fear as the great snake ate you and the old man that you couldn't defffeat." The green snake added.  
"You are a coward, Pythor." Scales said matter of factly. "Just ffface it. Oh, no. Wait." They all started laughing again. "That'sss right. You can't." Scales slithered up to face the Anacondrai general. "Because you are a coward." He turned and faced the audience. "You don't want this fool to lead us, do you?" He shouted. "You want someone strong. Someone who's plans actually work! After all, what did this missserable excuse for a snake do, anyway?" Scales raised his staff and brought it back down onto the stone platform hard. "Every idea Pythor had came back and bit usss hard."  
The snakes cheered in the stands.  
Pythor's jaw dropped in shock. They didn't want him here. "But-"  
"No butsss." Scales said. "Leave. There's no placcce for you here."  
Pythor snarled, his long forked tongue flicking out of his open jaw. "fine!" He shouted as he ran out of the arena under the eyes of hundreds of snakes. He mumbled to himself angrily as he exited the rundown city and was met with an unobstructed view of sand for miles around.  
"We'll that did not go well." Pythor hissed. "Exactly who's idea was this?"  
"That is of no concern of yours!" The Overlord shouted back, knowing full well it was his. "But we don't need them. I have a new plan. Lets move."  
Pythor rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his scaly chest. "You know I can't see you right? Where are we going?"  
"Ninjago City, you worm!" The Overlord shot back with fury.  
Pythor shook his head and sighed. "If I don't get rid of this Overlord soon," He hissed under his breath, "I'm going to lose my mind."

"What?" Nya asked her two best friends incredulously.  
Jay blushed deeply. For once he had nothing to say.  
Kai was pacing the floor, fingers clenching and unclenching as he tried really hard not to take out his blade again. "Can you believe this, Nya?" He asked.  
Nya covered her mouth with her hands, a look of shock in her eyes. Jay's heart sunk into his stomach as he looked at the floor.  
Nya cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest, somewhat regaining her composure. "Kai?" She said shakily. "A word outside, please."  
Kai nodded and held the door open for her. They both walked through, leaving Jay alone in the room.  
Kai shut the door behind them and turned to his sister.  
Nya covered her face with her hands as she sunk to the floor, on the verge of tears. "Oh, Kai." She sniffed. "What am I going to do?" She hugged her knees to her chin. Kai sat down next to her and put his arms around her.  
"Yea, it's not like we can kick him out of the club or anything." He said.  
Nya looked at him, horrified. "No! That's not what I meant!" She exclaimed.  
Cole came bounding around the corner. " Zane!" He shouted. He looked worried. "Zane, where'd you go?" He stopped when he saw the two siblings on the floor. "Oh, hey." He greeted them as he looked Nya over. "Are you ok, Nya? You look like you've been crying." His face was full of concern.  
Nya Looked up in alarm. "Cole!" She exclaimed, extricating herself from Kai's arms and jumping to her feet. She ran her fingers through her hair and blushed. "N-no, I'm fine. Thanks for asking, though." She didn't dare look up at his shining black eyes, out of fear that she might turn purple with embarrassment.  
Cole smiled slightly, obviously preoccupied with something else. "Great." He said. "Hey. Have either of you seen Zane?" He asked.  
Kai shook his head as he got to his feet. "No, sorry. We've been in there, talking with Jay. He might have passed through without us noticing."  
Cole moaned. "Oh, ok. Thanks, anyways. I've gotta find him. See you later." He ran off down the hall.  
As soon as he was gone, Kai turned to his little sister. "Really, Nya?" He put his hands on his hips and looked at the crimson colored girl in annoyance.  
She laughed despite herself. "I know!" She sunk to her knees again. "What am I going to do?" she repeated, her voice muffled in her hands.  
Kai frowned. "I have no clue. Does Cole know?"  
Nya shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I haven't told him, at least."  
Kai turned toward the door where Jay was waiting for them.  
Nya accepted her brother's hand and he pulled her to her feet. "What will I tell Jay?" She moaned.  
"About which part?" Kai asked. "His apology or your change of heart?"  
Nya gave him a warning glance. "The apology, Kai." She said curtly.  
"Oh. Ok, easy." He said. "Tell him you forgive him and walk out without another word. That's what I would do."  
Nya rolled her eyes and poked Kai's shoulder. "Of course. But I've got a feeling that your tactics won't work in my case. Thanks, anyway." She said as she turned to face the door. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You should go back and find the others, Kai. I can handle this." She opened the door and walked through, shutting it gently behind her.  
Kai stared at the closed door with some level of annoyance towards his sister.  
He walked up the stairs, deciding he needed to talk with a neutral party about this. His first thought was Sensei, but decided he needed someone who didn't talk in as many riddles. He figured that Lloyd would not be old enough to understand. That left one person. He ran to the kitchen.  
He slid the dining room door open, and could tell immediately something was off. "Lloyd?" Kai asked, "what are you doing in here?"  
Lloyd looked up from the pile of dirty dishes he was washing. "I'm eating candy and watching my favorite movie, Kai. What are you doing." He deadpanned. He looked at the fire ninja with alarm. "You didn't kill Jay, did you?" He asked.  
Kai laughed and ran his fingers through his ruddy brown hair. "No. Not yet."  
Lloyd smiled. "Yet." He repeated, rinsing a dish and setting it aside to dry.  
Kai looked at the pile of dishes left to testify for a day of eating almost nonstop. Ice cream bowls, plates with cake crumbs and soiled dishes from dinner that he didn't eat. "Where's Zane?" He asked.  
Lloyd shrugged. "He left after Jay's little... You know. Anyways, Cole went to go find him. I think Jay shook Zane up pretty badly with that comment. Sorta rubbed the fact that he wasn't human in his face."  
Kai winced. He hadn't thought of how the droids would take that scene. "Where's Pixal, then? Is she with him?"  
Lloyd shook his head. "Naw, she's with Julien. I think the whole thing went over her head. Remember, she wasn't even in the room when it happened."  
Kai nodded, feeling slightly relieved. "That's good." He looked at Lloyd's pile of work again and felt a bit of pity for the boy. "Want some help?" He asked.  
"Thought you'd never ask." Lloyd said. He handed Kai a rag. "Here." He went back to scrubbing.  
Kai noticed the pink apron Lloyd was still wearing. "Are there any more aprons?" Kai asked. "I don't feel like getting this gunk all over my kimono. I just washed it.  
Lloyd set down his rag again and walked over to the closet. "I'm not sure. Let me check." He opened the door and peeked in. "Oh, I'm going to kill you, Zane." He said as he reached in and pulled out a green apron. "Really?" The young ninja laughed. "This was here the whole time?" He rolled his eyes and reluctantly handed the apron to Kai. "What I won't do for a friend." He said with a smile. "Take it before I change my mind."  
Kai laughed and tied it around his red suit. "I look like Christmas came early." He said.  
"I look like a strawberry." Lloyd countered as he once again picked up the rag and began scrubbing. Kai grabbed a plate out of the warm, sudsy water and assisted him.  
"So what did you need Zane for?" Lloyd asked.  
Kai shrugged. "Just some advice." He said after a moment. He rinsed the plate and carefully put it on the drying rack.  
"On the best way to kill Jay?" Lloyd said good humoredly.  
Kai laughed. "No, actually. just the opposite." He grabbed a sticky bowl and scrubbed clean.  
"Really?" Lloyd said, obviously surprised. "You're going to do it?" Lloyd asked. "You're going to let Jay..."  
Kai sighed loudly. "I was. Until just a few minutes ago."  
"Because of what he said?" Lloyd asked, recognizing the tone in his friend's voice as one of confusion and frustration.  
Kai thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to put it into words. "Apparently, Cole has entered the picture."  
Lloyd nodded. "Yea. I could guess that." He said nonchalantly.  
Kai was surprised. "You did? Was Nya really that obvious?"  
Lloyd shook his head. "No. I just have a keen eye for that kind of stuff, I guess. I see her running her fingers through her hair and smiling a little more whenever Cole or Jay entered the room." Lloyd rinsed the plate and put it on the rack. "I don't think either Cole or Jay suspect that there's a triangle forming.  
"Which is good, I suppose." Kai said. "I'm just hoping that this whole thing blows over by itself without any more drama. But..." He sighed and looked at his friend. "If it came down to it, who should let her go with?"  
Lloyd stopped his work and looked at Kai thoughtfully. "First of all, Kai," he said, holding up a finger, "You need to think of what's best for her. Who do you think she would be happiest with in the long run?" he held up another finger. "And secondly, you don't know if Cole has mutual feelings for her."  
Kai nodded his head slowly. He smiled and got back to work. "Lloyd," he said, "you truly have wisdom beyond your years. Thank you."  
Lloyd grabbed the last dish off the counter and scrubbed it clean. "Anytime, brother." He let Kai give him a hug. "Lets go help Cole find Zane." They took off the aprons and tossed them on the floor, not even bothering to look where they landed, and ran out the door.

* * *

**I know some of you may not like the Cole/Nya ship, but I think it's cute **

**Please leave a comment, I really appreciate the feedback. :) **

**And if you want, go to my profile for a poll and the update schedule. **


	5. Brothers Forgive, Brothers Fight

**Hey guys! I have a couple things to say before I start the chapter.**

**First: I'm sorry the update is late. I shall try to do better in the future. but christmas is almost here, and we all know how busy things can get. **

**Second: Please comment! i love to read your feedback. It means the world to me. And if you have ideas on how I can move the story forward, leave a suggestion in the comments! **

**On with the show!**

* * *

**Zane!" He could hear Cole's voice calling him under the roof. He didn't answer. This was his own hideaway, the secret place no one could find him. The place he went to when he needed solitude. He didn't want Cole to know where he was right now.  
Zane went over what Jay had said in his mind. It burned inside of him. He wasn't sure why, but it did.  
A single tear fell down his cheeks as he filtered through the memories in his databanks. Him waking up in an empty room in a large tree all those years ago. Wandering around the woods until he found a small village. How nobody wanted him. Not really. He had been the black sheep of their community. He hadn't been loved by anyone.  
His whole young life after his memory switch had been turned off revolved around getting work done, getting picked on by peers, and being in the woods with the strange falcon. The bird that mimicked him whenever they were near each other. It had fascinated him. He would often talk to it, informing it of his life problems as if it was actually listening attentively. That bird had been his only friend during those hard years. The years before Sensei Wu found him. After Sensei took him to the monastery, the bird had left him for many years. He had been surprised the day it showed up and led him to Lloyd's tree fort, since surely it had outlived the normal falcon's lifespan.  
Another tear fell. He remembered his brothers yelling at him. Like it was his fault the monastery burned down or something.  
He remembered the bird showing up while Sensei scolded the other three ninja. He wanted to get away and talk with it, alone and free for a while. He got on his dragon and flew off with the falcon, letting off steam as he flew Shard through the skies along side his falcon friend. But there was one thought in particular that he tried his hardest to stay away from. Cole had opened the wound he had been trying to close ever since he was young.  
Seventy four. He was getting older. He didn't mind that so much, he felt as good as the day he was turned on. What hurt the most was the fact that he couldn't stop the aging process in his brothers. He didn't want to lose his friends, but he knew it was an inevitable loss.  
He knew that he would watch whole dynasties fall before his eyes, while his dear friends would most likely not even see the end of the one they were in now. He would make one friend after another, watch them get old and die while he continued on agelessly. Endlessly. It was his most foreboding and upsetting thought throughout his whole life. His father was nearing on one hundred. That elixir had done something to make Julien last longer than the average man, but Zane knew that his time was coming, and very soon. According to his calculations, his father had perhaps a year left among them, if he was lucky. But Zane knew he wasn't exactly a good luck charm. He was more like the black cat, if ever there was one.  
He wiped away the single tear and tried to lighten up a bit. Special, not strange. Different, not wrong. Was that correct? Or was he really the other way around.  
He heard a noise and looked behind him. He looked at Jay straight in the eyes, making the blue ninja stop short and pull back. Zane realized how he must have looked and softened his features a bit, patting the shingles next to him with his hand. Jay came forward tentatively and sat down.  
Zane looked at his friend's face. He looked pretty shaken, with his eyebrows bouncing somewhere between shock and sadness, one second almost in his hair and the next almost colliding with his eyelashes.  
"How did you find me?" Zane asked.  
Jay swallowed and began speaking in a shaky voice. "I-I don't know." He said. "I wasn't expecting to see you. This is where I go when I need some room to breath."  
Zane nodded. "Me too."  
Jay looked into Zane's bright cyan blue eyes. They were amazing eyes, in his opinion. Icy blue with a touch of silver and tiny flecks of white, accenting the illusion that he had a perfect disc of transparent ice in his iris. He wished his eyes looked half as spectacular as the eyes of this Nindroid.  
Zane looked into Jay's sad blue eyes and smiled. How could he possibly stay mad at this man? This was Jay. Getting on your nerves was what he did best. He was like a little brother to everyone. Dearly loved and hopelessly annoying.  
"H-hey, Zane?" Jay stuttered. "I just wanted to say. I'm really sorry about what happened. I hope... I hope I didn't make you upset. And I hope you can forgive me?"  
Zane looked up at the reddening sky. "You did make me upset, Jay."  
Jay grimaced and looked at his knees, which he held to his chest.  
Zane chuckled and patted Jay's back. "But that's what brothers do. Of course I can forgive you."  
Jay emptied his lungs slowly and breathed. "Thanks."  
Zane leaned in and put his face close to Jay's ear. "Did you get the footage?" He whispered.  
Jay nodded. "Yea. It was priceless. Good job." He punched Zane's shoulder. "Did you really have a green apron in the closet the whole time?"  
"Yes. Lloyd was none the wiser."  
Jay chuckled with his robot friend.  
"So." Zane said. "How did you manage not getting lit up like a funeral pyre when Kai was chasing you?"  
Jay winced at the memory. "Yea..." He began. "It was Nya. Let's leave it at that."  
Zane nodded in understanding. That girl had ways of taming Kai's fire like none of the others could understand.  
Jay jumped to his feet. "Well, I'm going inside now. Thanks, Zane. You've helped me tons."  
Zane looked puzzled. "But what did I do?" He asked. "How did I help you?"  
Jay shook his head subtly. He was beginning to see the difference between wise and smart. Zane was an incurable case of wise. Jay held out his hand and helped the Nindroid to his feet. "You just did. Thanks."  
Zane nodded hesitantly, still puzzling over this. "You're welcome."  
They got down from the roof quickly and quietly, both not wanting anyone to know about their secret place. They went inside the kitchen and found it empty and all the dishes washed. Zane looked at the floor with a shake of his head as he picked up the aprons. "I sense that Kai came and helped Lloyd." He said, putting the aprons away on their hook in the closet. "I feel bad for Lloyd." He sighed. "I should have helped him with this."  
Jay shook his head. "Come on, Zane. Lighten up. It's your birthday. He probably wanted to make it more special for you. I would just tell him thank you and..." He reached up onto a shelf. "Show his the footage!" Jay beamed as he found the camera hidden on the cluttered surface and pushed the flashing red button, stoping the film.  
Zane smiled slyly with his friend and nodded. "Very well." He said, pulling on Jay's sleeve. "Let's go show Lloyd." They ran out the door and began the search for the rest of the team. The search didn't take very long, since they were all wandering around looking for each other anyways.  
"There you are." Cole said with relief. He eyed Zane and Jay in turn. "Are you two ok?"  
Zane's maniacal smile never diminished. "Never been better, my friend." He beamed, scaring everyone but Jay with his expression. Zane looked at Lloyd, who was standing next to Cole. "Thank you for doing the dishes, Kai and Lloyd." He said. "In gratitude, Jay and I have something for you all." He continued pulling Jay along, who still had the camera in his grasp.  
Kai looked at Nya in a questioning manner. She just shrugged, busy watching them disappear around the bend.  
"Well," Cole said when the two crazed looking ninja had disappeared around the corner, "I guess we'd better follow them." He started walking, the others following behind their leader hesitantly. When Zane had a smile like that, it could only mean trouble. And all of them knew it.**

~*~

Scales looked at the map and Fangtom in turn, trying to understand what the mute snake was communicating. He looked at the red snake's fingers as they pointed to different areas of Ninjago.  
"I sssee now," Acidicus nodded. "An ambush."  
Scales wasn't so sure. "But remember what happened lassst time we had an ambush for them?" He asked. "That samurai girl came and sssaved them. How do you plan to win this battle when their samurai is ssso strong?"  
"That's easssy." Scalidor said. "We get rid of her. Sometime when she isss nowhere near her sssuit."  
Scales nodded. It sounded too easy. This whole plan was to simple. This was the kind of thing that Pythor would have done. That Pythor did do, in a way. But he was willing to take a chance. "Thisss may work." Scales said aloud, looking once again at the map that was cluttered with ink markings from the plan making. He pointed at Ninjago City. "We ssstrike here tonight." He hissed.

~*~

"We'll be arriving in Ninjago City shortly." Nya's voice came over the loudspeaker.  
Julien smiled and looked at Zane. "Good." He said. "I can hardly wait to meet Cyrus."  
Cole put down his sketchpad and looked up at the inventor. "Heh. Neat!" He said. "Do you mind if we join you?"  
"Yea!" Jay jumped off of the couch excitedly. "Sounds like fun!"  
Julien looked at Zane. "What do you think, son?" He said with a smile, predicting the white ninja's answer. "Should we let them join us?"  
Zane nodded eagerly. " Sounds fine to me, father." He said as he moved a pawn on the board. "Check."  
Lloyd rapped his fist on the table. "Augh!" He moaned. "How do you do it?" He pushed his queen forward.  
"Check mate."  
Lloyd moaned again and proceeded to bang his head on the table, much to the amusement of his opponent.  
"Yay!" Jay shouted, jumping into the air. "We get to meet Cyrus tonight!"  
Kai rolled his eyes. Jay was so immature.  
"Great." Cole said, resuming his drawing.  
"Would you like to play, Pixal?" Lloyd offered.  
The young woman stood up and nodded. "Yes, please." She said. "I have been watching you from the couch, and I believe I know the basic rules and fundamentals of the game."  
Lloyd nodded and got out of the chair, gesturing for her to sit down. "Nindroid versus Nindroid." He joked.  
Everything in the ship moved as Nya dropped the anchor over the city.  
"Looks like that game will have to wait, Pixal." Zane said apologetically.  
Everyone got up and ran to the deck where Nya was waiting for them.  
"I heard over the speakers that you guys are going to welcome the newest member if the team." Nya said. "I'm coming with, if you don't mind."  
Zane smiled. "Of course, Nya."  
"Thanks." She said. "Wu is sleeping, so I decided I'd leave him in charge for a while." She laughed a bit at her words, knowing full well that the ancient man had no idea who was in charge. "Can you call the dragon, Lloyd?"  
Lloyd let out a whistle and the dragon was above them in seconds, lowering its tail so the team could climb up. Zane helped Julien and Pixal onto the first few spikes of its tail before climbing up after them. The others followed.  
"You coming, Lloyd?" Cole said, noticing the green ninja was still on the deck.  
"Yea." He shouted up to them. He turned and ran over the edge of the deck, doing a neat flip as he vaulted the ship railing. There was a golden glow and his dragon appeared, catching its master and carrying him off.  
"Showoff." Jay muttered under his breath. "I'll take the wheel, I guess." He said in a louder tone as he scooted to the base of the four headed creature's neck and grabbed the reins. "Hold on tight!" He warned.  
Zane held his sister tightly as they decended into the city below them.  
"There's so many lights." Pixal said in wonder. "It is magnificent. Is that our home?"  
"Yes." Zane said softly. "There is our home."  
"That's where I live too, Pixal." Cole said. "Kai and Nya live in Jamonokai Village. Lloyd lives in the new new  
monastery with Wu, Garmadon and Misako."  
"I do not have recollection of those last two names. Shall I be meeting them soon?"  
Cole realized his mistake. "Right. Sorry, I forgot you haven't met Lloyd's parents. Well, they live where the old monastery burnt down. We all helped rebuild it, and so now the Garmadons live in it. We'll bring you over there sometime."  
"We'll bring the dragons too, I hope!" Jay said, shouting above the wind currents. "I never did like climbing all those steps." He brought the dragon to a stop in front of Zane's home and workshop. "Let's all get off of Wisp. He's been flying all day and probably needs a nap."  
"Who says his name is still Wisp?" Kai retorted sourly, putting husbands on his hips. "He is all our dragons."  
"Except mine." Lloyd said. "Now come on. This isn't worth arguing about."  
"I agree." Pixal said. "I do not understand this feud between Kai and Jay. What is wrong with them?"  
Nya rolled her eyes. "Let's not go there. Come on. Lets get inside."  
Zane released Pixal, allowing her to fall to the ground gently. "I agree, Nya." He jumped to the ground and extracted a key from his pocket to unlock the door. He swung the door open and gestured with his arm, keeping it from shutting the other hand, allowing everyone to pass through. He shut it behind him just as Julien found the light switch and filled the room with its fluorescent light.  
"Rather cluttered." Pixal remarked, crossing her arms over her chest. "I shall get to work on cleaning right away."  
Zane grabbed her arm. "No, not yet Pixal."  
"I agree." Julien said. "Let's meet our friend first. I believe that cleaning is a thing of lesser importance on our list." He walked over to where Cyrus lay in the middle of the room, breathless and lifeless on the table.  
"Do you want to do it, Zane?" Julien asked.  
Zane shook his head. "You should do it, father."  
They heard a voice behind them. "May I do it, father?" Pixal asked quietly.  
Julien nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, Pixal. Go ahead."  
"Thank you." She walked over to the table and opened Cyrus' panel. She took a deep breath and touched the switch. There was a faint whir as a light came on in the panel and he opened his green eyes and sat up on the table.  
"Greetings, Cyrus." Pixal began. "I'm-"  
The ground started to shake beneath them and Cyrus rolled off the table. Zane ran to help him up as a dozen huge snakes burrowed through the floorboards brandishing a variety of lethal looking weapons.  
Cyrus' left hand suddenly transformed into a gun and shot down two of the Constrictai with a single loud blast.  
"NinjaGo!" The ninja used their spinjitsu and took down the rest of the snakes in seconds. They stopped spinning and looked at the others with concern.  
"Are you guys ok?" Kai asked his sister.  
"Kai, look out!" Julien pointed behind the five ninja and Cyrus. They all turned around and saw twice the number of snakes than before come through more holes. Zane took out his elemental blade and froze one Venomari who was poising to attack. Two more climbed over the frozen body and pressed forward.  
"There's too many of them!" Lloyd shouted, using his powers to disarm a few more of the hissing figures. They heard a feminine scream behind them and turned to face the sound.  
"Nya!" Kai shouted. He ran for the Hypnobrai soldier that held his sister, but skidded to a stop when he saw the blade.  
"Don't make a move." Mezmo hissed loudly as he pressed the long knife to Nya's throat. She lay limp and breathing heavily in his scaly grasp. "Kai." She said softy, a look of terror on her face that reflected the same emotion in Kai's brown eyes. He put away his blade and put his hands in the air. The others did the same. Cyrus transformed his appendage back into a clenched fist.  
Mezmo laughed. "Ssscales will be pleased. Come on, boys. Letsss get out of here. We must get to Birchtree Forest to rendezvous with the rest of the tribesss." He looked at the ninja and hissed. "Don't you even dare try and follow usss." He disappeared through the large hole. The others following quickly, jumping back into the holes they had come from.  
Kai felt like the world had been taken out from under him like a rug. He fell to the floor and put his head in his hands, every part of his body trembling.  
Cyrus shook his head and paced the room. "What just happened?" He asked angrily. "I am very confused." He morphed his hand again and began shooting the wall.  
Julien ran up and grabbed the Nindroid's shoulder. "Take it easy, Cyrus. Control yourself. I will introduce you to the team in a moment. But first." He turned to Cole. "I am with Cyrus on this one. What happened?"  
Cole shrugged, obviously rather flustered by the sudden fight and kidnapping. "Zane. Why didn't you sense their presence?"  
Zane shook his head, his face paler than usual. "Forgive me, father. I cannot see everything."  
Cole put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's ok." He put on a gruesome smile. "What a way to end a birthday."  
"What!" Jay screamed. "Nya's been taken again and all you can think of is Zane's birthday?" He paced around the room, crunching small bits of paper and broken equipment under his feet. "Augh!" He banged his fist on his forehead again and again, trying to break himself out of the nightmare.  
"Guys!" Lloyd shouted, making everyone turn to him. "We need to calm down and figure out what we are going to do next." His face was cool and he held an air of authority in his green eyes as he looked at everyone in turn. "They said something about the Birchtree Forest. We can go there and see if our lead is accurate, or go back to the bounty and track her from there. Hopefully the snakes don't go wise on us and ditch her bracelet. If she somehow was able to escape them, she could have her samurai mech fly there in a minute."  
Everyone had a look of surprise on their faces. This boy was acting more mature than the rest of them put together, and they knew it full well.  
"I agree with Lloyd." Cole helped Kai to his feet. "Let's get back to the Bounty. It's the quickest way to get to where we are going. We can figure out a plan from there." 


	6. Breaking Brothers, Blowing Blizzards

**Hey, fellow Ninjago friends, enemies, and enemies who pretend to be friends! Merry Christmas! Sing that one Christmas song that The Fold made constantly to your best friend until she runs off with all the cookies and then go and take them from 'er. **

**Or not. But whatever you do, make sure you leave me a nice Christmas present. How do you do that? Comment with what you did or didn't like, give me suggestions for the future of this story, and just keep on Ninja-Going!**

**Random fact: My world just got a little weirder (if such a thing were possible.) Did you know that Lloyd Garmadon was voiced by a girl? True story, check IMDB and you'll see for yourself. **

**And sorry for that break about two hundred words down, an error i decided not to fix right now. Not that big of a deal.**

**Okay, I'm done rambling. On with the show! (Weekend Whip plays in the background.)**

* * *

Lloyd knocked on the door. "Hey, dad!" He shouted, rapping the wood again with his knuckles.  
"Maybe he isn't home." Cole suggested.  
Zane shook his head. "No, I sense their presence."  
The door opened slowly a moment later, Garmadon's aged face appearing through the crack.  
"Greetings, son!" He smiled and pushed the door fully open. "Come on in. Misako had just started breakfast."  
"Oh, no we aren't here to eat." Kai said. "We came for help."  
"Indeed." Zane said. "It appears the snakes have appeared once again, and are up to their old tricks."  
"And they took Nya!" Jay added in a loud voice.  
Garmadon shut the gate and sighed slowly. "Cliche."  
Kai laughed bitterly. "Yeah. I'm not going to let you live that one down anytime soon."  
The old man smiled and started walking across the monastery courtyard. "I don't blame you a bit. But I really. Why is it always Nya?"  
"Because." Zane said matter of factly, making everyone stop and look at him. "Because they want to break Kai."

Garmadon nodded in agreement. "A wise deduction."

Zane continued. "Think about it. Until yesterday, he was the only one with family relations on the team. We now have Pixal and Cyrus as well." He paused, letting the words sink in. There was silence in the courtyard for many seconds.  
"Which would mean," Lloyd said, "Zane just became our most vulnerable partner."  
"Which also means," Kai spoke up. "We need to protect him better and give him support." He put an arm around his Nindroid friend.  
Zane smiled. "Thank you for your concern, brothers and Sensei. But I am a mere droid. I doubt I have the capability to have a mental breakdown, such as you normal humans endure on occasion." He slung his arm over Kai's shoulder and walked forward, forcing Kai to follow, and in turn, the others as well. "I have not encountered any emotional barrier I could not handle. So I doubt it will ever happen."  
Jay ran in front of Zane as he mounted the steps to the main door. "Zane," he said, shaking his head, "you are anything but a mere droid. Don't downgrade yourself like that. You are more human than we are in many ways. Many good ways." He wrapped his arms around Zane and hugged him tightly, making the robot gasp for breath.  
"Now I don't want to hear another word like that come out of your mouth again, do you understand?" Cole said, crossing his large arms over his chest. "Don't do that to yourself. Ever. It's not cool."  
Zane nodded, obviously a little confused. But he got the main message. "Very well. Thank you, brothers." He squeaked, returning Jay's hug with equal bravado. This made Jay squeak and let go.  
"Hey!" He wheezed.  
Lloyd knocked all three of them on the head. "I couldn't agree more with Jay and Cole, but aren't we a big pressed for time? We don't know exactly what the snakes have planned for our sister, but rest assured she won't be having a picnic. We need to come up with a plan."  
Cole sighed, rubbing his head where the green ninja had rapped him. Lloyd was slowly stealing the show out from under him. "Hey, don't forget who's in charge here, Lloyd." He warned with a cheeky smile. "I'll keelhaul ya the next time you do my job." He looked around at the group, and decided to keep up the joke for one last sentence. "We'll, what are we waiting for?" He opened the door. "Nya's having no picnic out there. We need to come up with a plan."  
Jay and Lloyd chuckled lightly at the well placed joke and stopped inside the dining room, followed by the others.  
A wave of smells hit them, making them feel a wave of nostalgia sweep through them as the scent of sausage and eggs hit them. They had to remind themselves that they weren't here to eat.  
Misako's grey head appeared through the sliding door. "Hello, friends." She walked out, wearing a navy blue apron. Jay elbowed Zane inconspicuously, making everyone smile at the not so subtle hinting. Zane had stubbornly refused to get rid of his flowery pink apron, even after all these years. He was a lost cause.  
"And hello, son." She made Lloyd stand up and gave him a hug and a kiss in the cheek, making the others snicker. The blond haired boy made a face at the others spitefully as he returned his mother's fond gestures with longer ones of his own. Cole made a choking face and stuck out his tongue.  
Lloyd finally let his mother go and sat down. "It's good to see you, mom." He said sincerely, kicking Cole under the table.  
"You too, son. But I must teach you a thing or two about manners. I only cooked enough food for two people. You didn't give me a proper warning before you arrived." She sighed. "But I can make do. I'll out on some more."  
"No, don't bother, please." Cole said. "Our apologies for the sudden arrival. We didn't come here for breakfast anyways. We already ate."  
"Yes, dearest." Garmadon said. "They came for help."  
Misako nodded nonchalantly. "I know."  
Kai looked up at her, surprised. "You do?"  
The elderly lady sat down. "Indeed. I saw it the moment I saw your faces." She looked at Pixal. "And I did not neglect to notice the new face as well. What is your name, friend?"  
The droid smiled shyly. "Pixal. A pleasure to meet you, Misako." Her slightly monotonous voice replied. She looked at Zane. "Now I have a face to the name, and can store it in my memory banks."  
Misako squinted at the young woman. "Memory banks?" She adjusted her glasses and looked at the strange silvery hair, which was similar to her own long grey locks. "Are you...related...to Zane?" She said, choosing her words carefully.  
Pixal nodded. "Affirmative. I am his sister. Cyrus is back on the ship, learning how to use his new body." She hesitated. "Forgive me. You shall be introduced to our brother later."  
"Guys!" Kai suddenly jumped out of his chair and slammed his fists on the table. He had a crazed look in his eyes. "Can we stop with the small talk and get down to business? My sister's life kinda depends on it."  
Pixal's face darkened. "My apologies, Kai."  
The fire ninja suddenly realized how harsh he had been and sat down, running his fingers through his hair. "No, I'm sorry." He sighed. "I should have controlled myself better." He closed his eyes and scooted further away from Cole. "Sorry, I got a little hot there." He said as a smoky smell filled the room.  
"Geez, Kai!" Cole exclaimed, looking at his friend with a frown. "You're smoking!"  
Kai groaned and sat back down. "I know." He said.  
Zane, who was sitting on the other side of him, placed his hand on Kai's neck and began cooling him down. A hissing sound left the place where his skin made contact with the fire ninja's warm skin, and steam was starting to rise.  
Kai sighed. "Thank you, Zane." He buried his head in his hands.  
Zane looked at Garmadon with concern as he squeezed his brother's shoulders gently. "I am sensing another thread of his sanity has broken." He said quietly.

~*~

The Hypnobrai finally put away his knife, allowing Nya to breathe freely again. But he did not loosen of his grip on her arm as they continued running through the narrow tunnel. Nya bumped her head more than a few times on the dirt over their heads as they ran faster than she had ever thought was possible for a bipod who was traveling doubled over.  
After about an hour of relentless running, they finally came out into the open air. Nya realized for the first time just how stuffy the tunnel had been. She took in her surroundings carefully as she tried to catch her breath. They were in a heavily forested area with lots of vegetation. There were bushes and weeds under their feet and large, towering trees above them that blocked out almost all the dim moonlight. A few sparse beams of grey light filtered through the branches above them.  
"Ssstop!" A voice somewhere hissed. "We can take a ssshort break here."  
All the snakes quickly dispersed and began talking loudly in groups. Laughter an hisses filled the night air.  
Mezmo grabbed Nya's other arm roughly and took off her bracelet.  
"Hey, you!" He shouted, pointing to a dark Constrictai who stood nearby. The short snake ran up and stood in front of the Hypnobrai soldier. "Take thisss. You know your orders." The black snake nodded and took the large red bracelet from Mezmo's hands. "Yesss sir." He ran into the woods opposite where the troop had in come from, followed by about twenty other snakes from the large group.  
Nya breathed heavily and clutched her chest. "Please." She panted. "Please let me sit down for a minute."  
The snake obliged her. "I never underssstood your kind." Mezmo said, letting go of her wrist. "You surface dwellers tire ssso quickly. It must be bothersssome." He sat down next to her, his huge red eyes looking into hers with curiosity.  
Nya eyed the snake with suspicion. "Aren't you concerned about me running away?" She asked.  
The blue snake hissed out a chuckle. "Not really. Where can you go?"  
He had a point. They were in the middle of a group of over a hundred armed snakes.  
"Ssso." Mezmo said. "What is your name, girl?"  
She crossed her legs and too a deep breath, trying to control her heart rate. "Nya."  
"A pleasssure, Nya." He let out a toothy grin. "I am called Mezmo."  
Nya nodded in return. She was not ready to make friends with the enemy, much less a snake. Even if it was friendly. "So." She said after a minute of silence. "Where are we actually going."  
Mezmo's smile never diminished. "Can't pull the flaky scales over your eyes, huh? Orobouros, of course."  
Nya's heart sunk. "Ok." She said after a moment. "At least I won't freeze."  
Mezmo stood up and helped Nya to her feet. "Break is over!" He shouted loudly. "Back in formation!"  
The snake chatter instantly ceased. The snakes got back into an organized line and began walking.  
Mezmo let go of Nya's hand and tapped her shoulder. "Let's get moving." He said.  
Nya looked into the woods behind them and reluctantly followed the crowd. "You are a fool to trust me, snake." She hissed under her breath.

~*~

"So it's settled then." Cole said, looking at the map on the Bounty. There was a red, softly strobing light that moved steadily north on the digital map's face. "Zane. You, Lloyd, Jay and Cyrus will go after Nya in the Birchtree forest. Follow the tracker. I will stay back here with mr and mrs Garmadon, Kai and Pixal."  
Cyrus nodded and looked at the map closely. "What if it's a ruse, Cole?" His deep, masculine voice went through the bridge like a wave.  
"That's why we are staying behind." Kai said. "So we can rescue you if the snakes have set up a trap."  
Misako swallowed hard. "I...I do have something to say to you before you get going, Zane. Please follow me." She picked up her scroll case and beckoned toward the door. She looked back at the others. "We'll just be a moment."  
Zane followed her out and shut the door behind them. He looked at her expectantly.  
"Yes, Misako?" He asked in his quiet voice.  
Misako unscrewed the lid on her red case. "I... Well, it's like I said. I have something to show you. A warning, I suppose." She selected an old and rather neglected looking scroll and handed it to him with shaky fingers.  
Zane took it from her fingers and studied it carefully, his own fingers starting to shake a bit. He looked up at the greying lady with concern. "Have you shown this to anyone else?"  
"No. only you."  
Zane nodded thoughtfully. "Is there any way to stop this?" He asked, rolling it up with quick, efficient movements and handing it back to her.  
She took it and carefully put it back in the case with a shake of her head. "As far as I know, no. There isn't. But we mustn't lose hope. You may find another path. Just keep up hope that this scroll deems itself inaccurate before too long." She looked into his blue eyes, which had a barely visible shake to them. "Good luck, Zane." She said.  
Zane nodded. "Thank you." He opened the door and held it for the lady. She walked through, and he followed behind her.  
The others all stared at them for a few seconds before Cyrus spoke up. "Everything finally situated, then?" He asked. "I am assuming that Zane is the leader of our rescue mission."  
Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. That would make sense." He looked at the Nindroid for confirmation. "That's okay with you, Zane?"  
Zane swallowed hard and nodded. "If that is the consensus."  
Lloyd gave him a confused look.  
"It that is the general opinion of the people in the room." Garmadon explained.  
Lloyd nodded. "Oh."

~*~

Lloyd looked up at the falcon that flew high above the trees, watching his breath rise in a mist above his head before dissipating in the winds. He took a deep breath and reveled in the warmth that he retained by using his fire power. The wind blew his hair in every direction it possibly could, making him finally decide to put his hood on just so the blond strands wouldn't be in his eyes anymore.  
He looked over his shoulder at Jay, who was shivering slightly, his hands shoved in his pockets. The poor guy. He was the only one here with no means of keeping himself from freezing other than his own clothing. Lloyd could summon his own heat on demand. Cyrus was a robot. His body would most likely only quit working in the most extreme temperatures. And Zane, on top of being a robot, was the ninja of ice. Ice was his friend.  
"Hey Zane." Lloyd called out to the Nindroid about three yards in front of him, plowing a path through the ever-growing pile of snow.  
The white ninja turned his head and looked at him without missing a beat in his snow-crunching step. "Yes, Lloyd?" It was hard to hear over the growing wind.  
"What is the weather going to look like? Are we headed for a storm?"  
Zane looked at Cyrus, who was walking in front of me. "What do you think, brother?"  
Cyrus was silent a moment. "My assessment of the current weather patterns tells me that we are indeed headed for a storm. I would suggest finding shelter before seeing even our hands in front of our faces becomes impossible."  
"I agree." Jay shouted, making me flinch, but the noise most likely barely reached Zane's ears at the front of the line. "We are loosing daylight pretty fast, too."  
Lloyd made note of the fact that he wasn't complaining about the chill factor. "If you're cold, Jay, just put your hood down. It should help a bit."  
Jay nodded and pulled the blue hood over his head promptly. "Why didn't I think of that before?" He said to himself with a chuckle. He shook and almost blew over with the next gust of wind. His feet left the path beaten by his brothers for a moment and he instantly went knee deep in snow, falling in the snow from the lack of balance and another stronger gust of wind. His face and hands made contact with the fluffy white powder and he shouted in surprise at the sudden pain from his fingers, which were becoming quite numb.  
Lloyd turned and saw Jay in the snow and ran to help him up. "Come on, Jay." He grabbed the cold hand and helped him to his feet. "We don't want to get too far behind."  
Jay nodded and let go of the golden ninja's warm hand hesitantly. He hardened his resolve and put his hand in his pocket. "I'm not going to complain." He told himself forcefully, closing his eyes as another gust of wind blew into his face. The tiny ice particles felt like they were cutting into his skin like a thousand needles. He took a step forward and followed Lloyd.  
The golden ninja looked behind him to make sure Jay was following. He saw the blue ninja trudge forward, gloved hands in his pockets, and decided he was going to be fine, at least for the time being. If Jay had a problem, they would have already heard about it. The lightning ninja wasn't usually all that hesitant to open his mouth when he had a problem. But still...  
He pushed his way around Cyrus carefully and tapped Zane's shoulder. He jumped and turned around. "Yes, Lloyd?"  
Lloyd was really concerned now. Why did he flinch? It was so not what the regular Zane would do. Lloyd formed the words in his mind after a few seconds. "What's the matter with Jay?" He asked. "He seems cold. But if he were really uncomfortable, wouldn't he be complaining?" Lloyd saw a distant look in his Nindroid friend's eyes. It made him uncomfortable. He swallowed hard and continued. "Zane, is something wrong?"  
Zane turned his head from his young friend as he continued trudging through the snow. He quickly processed what Lloyd had just told him with dread. "Yes." He stopped so fast that Lloyd ran into his back.  
"Oof." Lloyd quickly backed away and looked at Zane, even more concerned than before. "Do you want to talk about it, Zane? Is it about Misako's private talk with y-"  
Zane right past him and Cyrus, disappearing into the now wildly blowing blizzard.  
"Zane!" Lloyd called out, chasing him quickly. He once again ran straight into the droid's back with a thud.  
Zane turned around and grabbed his shoulders, a wild look in his eyes. "Lloyd!" He shouted. "Jay is gone!"  
A feeling of dread went through his system as he realized what must have happened. Zane let go of his shoulders and beckoned him and Cyrus forward. "Search the ground." He ordered. "We can't trust our sight, so we need to fan out and search carefully with our feet. Lloyd, you will be on my right. Cyrus, come on my left."  
Lloyd and Cyrus nodded in unison and did as they are directed.  
"He could not have gotten far in his condition. Chances are, he just stumbled and was unable to get back up again." Zane lit up his head with a warm yellow light like a beacon. "Lloyd. Use your power and create a small light orb. It will help you find him before you step on him. And Cyrus- oh." Zane turned to his left and saw that the dark haired bot had already turned on his internal lighting. "Good." Zane nodded his praise quickly and took the first step. "Let's get going. We must find him before it's too late."  
Lloyd created the green orb in his fingers as he was told. His head was spinning with confusion. What did Zane mean. 'In his condition?' What condition? 'Before it's too late?' He decided not to ask. He figured he would find out what Zane meant soon enough. And that he was not going to like the answer.


	7. When Ice Is Under Pressure

**Please leave a comment! and give me ideas to use in the future, either for this story or a story you'd like to see in the future.**

**And NeanFrost, sorry for that. I was just unable to continue there. **

**And I'd like to give credit where credit is due, but i don't remember who originally came up with the idea the snakes and their underground caves/food supply theory, (flashback in Pythor's scene, second break in the story.) But just know, the idea was not mine. **

**And just a warning, the scene with Pythor and the Overlord gets a little bloody. If you don't wanna read it, just skip over it. You'll find out what happened soon enough. **

* * *

Jay shivered uncontrollably, his teeth banging together so hard he thought they might chip. Everything on him was covered in ice and snow from his body heat melting the snow, and the water soaking into his kimono, then refreezing. He felt like millions of little needles were pricking him everywhere.  
"How hard would it be," he said to himself. "To say that I'm cold?" He wasn't sure why, but he just felt like he shouldn't be bothering them with his own drama. They were on a mission. "Follow Zane's tracker, find Nya. Rescue her, then hot cocoa back at the Bounty." He tried to stop his teeth from quickstepping around his gums, and gave up with a shaky sigh. "I'm fine. I'm a ninja. I can t-take it."  
A gust of wind came by and blew his mask off his face. "Hey!" Jay jumped, trying to get it back. But it was too far into the air by the time his sluggish brain processed the fact that he would need to jump to get it back. "Great." He mumbled, his face getting bit by tiny particles of ice.  
He suddenly felt the ground shake underneath him. The snakes! They were right underneath his feet, boring up toward the surface. "Guys!" He shouted into the wind. "The snakes!" He looked ahead of him to see if the other ninja had heard his voice and a feeling of dread hit him. They were gone! He ran down the path that his three companions had paved. It was already getting smoothed over by the steadily growing winds that blew in every direction. Was he really that far behind?  
He felt dizzy and delirious. He saw a flash of Lloyd's kimono once and tried to catch it, but the vision was fleeting. Every time he got close to the golden figure it disappeared.  
The ground started shaking harder. "Guys!" He shouted, receiving yet again no answer to his cries.  
He felt a particularly large wave of nausea hit him and he fell to his knees helplessly, doubled over with pain.  
The ground opened up in front of him and a Venomari soldier grabbed him. He was helpless to do anything but keep from falling on his face as he was half dragged down the steep tunnel.  
"What did you find up there, Lashhha?" A gravely voice hissed.  
"The ninja, sssir." The snake holding his arm replied.  
"Jussst one? There should be more than that. Did they really only sssend one ninja to rescue the girl?"  
Jay's head swam as he processed their words. The girl! "Nya!" He called out, thinking he may find her among these detestable snake humanoids. His vision came in and out of focus as he saw the group of snakes around him. Were there twenty? No, their numbers just doubled to forty. Jay shook his head to clear it. Now there were twenty again. "What on earth." He moaned.  
One of the snakes started laughing. "The human is getting cold."  
"Duh." Jay thought to himself. "But..." He thought a moment. Was it his imagination, or was he getting a little warmer? Perhaps it was because they were out of the wind.  
He tried to stand on his feet but fell to his knees again, held halfway off the ground by the green snake's tight grip on his upper arm. He groaned and watched helplessly as the short black snake walked toward him. Then there were three identical black snakes striding toward him, all spinning frenetically. He shook his head again to clear it, but it only started throbbing. The black snake...or snakes...spun faster.  
Jay saw something red in the snake's hand and gasped. Nya's bracelet! He tried to reach for it but only made the group of reptiles laugh harder when he couldn't seem to pinpoint where exactly it was, as it wouldn't stop moving with his vision.  
"Letsss get him to Orobourus." The black snake commanded. "The generals will love to sssee him captured."

* * *

Pythor looked over Ninjago City with a feeling of detest. How dare they build such things on this ground? This was a sacred place in his tribe's history. The was the place where the first Spinjitsu Master had defeated them years ago.  
He remembered it like it had happened only yesterday instead of a thousand years ago. He had been standing next to his general, Porsha, when the great Ninja came at them. How secure their victory had seemed. There were so many snakes there to fight the spinjitsu master off.  
Pythor sighed. Those were the days when the Anacondrai had been the largest, most feared and powerful. Slithraa's tribe had been the next most powerful in strength and size.  
The battle had been rather chaotic and confusing. The only alliance that had been formed was between the Constrictai and Venomari. But that alliance only lasted about ten minutes into the battle. After that alliance failed, the only rule of the war was not to kill a snake of your own tribe. Every other rule was discarded as blow after blow was dealt, and snake after snake was recklessly killed.  
Then the impossible happened. The Ultimate Spinjitsu Master had defeated them, using his golden dragon and that fire sword.  
The snakes had all been locked away in separate areas of Ninjago. They were imprisioned in places where food was plentiful enough to sustain the decreased population for an eternity, and where they wouldn't be able to escape without a surface dweller to unleash them again.  
The Venomari had a plentiful amount of insects and vegetation. The Constrictai had mudnewt. The Hypnobrai had glacier worms. The Fangpyre also had a large number of insects and small rodents. The Anacondrai were the most well off of all the tribes. They had been left on a heavily vegetated island in the middle of the ocean, where they had their choice of many different roots, bugs and different types of mammals that lived underground, all in great abundance. Apparently the ocean had moved in the time they had been locked away, being replaced with burning desert, because after about eight hundred years, the population of plants and animals started to rapidly decrease. After another hundred years, they had become so hungry they resorted to cannibalism. The other tribes had been much more fortunate in the later years because their food supplies never diminished.  
Pythor shuddered as he thought of the last hundred years of his life. The years of terror. Everyone was an enemy. You would form an alliance with a few friends, only to wake up in the middle of the night with a knife on your throat. Not like he hadn't participated in a few of those betrayals himself, but it wasn't fun, betraying and eating friends you've known for hundreds, or even thousands, of years. Hunger had strange effects on the snakes and humans alike.  
Pythor had all of that go through his head in a matter of seconds as he looked out over the brightly colored city with flashing lights and thousands of bustling people, oblivious to the great threat that stood on a hill overlooking the city, watching them and planning their next move.  
"What do we do here, Overlord?" Pythor asked in a low voice. He hated being the second in command. That had been his job for too many years to ever be enjoyable. "Are the ninja down there?"  
"No." The Overlord hissed. "They are not. But it doesn't matter. That is not why we are here. Now lets get moving. We must get to the white ninja's shop. They have something I desire greatly."  
Pythor began moving down the grassy hill at what he would call a fairly quick pace, all things considered.  
"Faster, worm!" The Overlord shouted, making the purple snake jump with surprise. "We've already had too long of a delay because of your pitiful walking speed, let's not wast any more time. When I finally get my hostiam, you will be sorry you ever irked me."  
Pythor moved faster, wondering why on earth he ever agreed to be this bothersome invisible person's little tagalong. What was he needed for, anyways? He was too scared to ask.  
He turned his skin invisible so no one would see either of them as they passed crowds of people on the streets.  
It took them a full thirty minutes to find the shop. They looked inside and saw an old man picking up large bits of debris from the floor.  
"Open the door." Overlord said. "And keep your wide mouth shut. I will do the talking."  
Pythor made himself visible again and turned the handle. An electronic bell rang inside pleasantly.  
"Hello!" The grey haired man had his back turned to them as he reached down and grabbed a twisted piece of metal and tossed it in the garbage bag. "I'll be with you in just a moment, sorry about the mess. We had...an accident...here last night." He set down the large bag and turned around, wiping his hands on his apron. "My name is Julien, by the way." He looked up at Pythor and gasped.  
"I don't care what your name is." The Overlord's voice sounded even more deep and menacing than it had been before they entered the shop. "I need that cyborg that was here a few days ago."  
Julien's eyes dilated in fear. "O-Overlord?" He swallowed hard. "I...I don't know what you are talking about I have no cyborgs here."  
"I think you do!" His voice echoed throughout the trashed room. "And while you are at it, tell us where your son and his ninja team are headed. It would save us the labor of looking ourselves."  
Julien shook his head adamantly. "No."  
"Make him talk, Pythor." Overlord sounded ready to pop. Which was just fine with the purple henchman. Pythor actually found pleasure in the thought of his temporary master 'popping'.  
He nodded and drew a knife, advancing toward the trembling figure.  
"Talk, old man!" Overlord's voice shook the room.  
Julien stopped, his back pressed against the wall. "No!" He shouted. "I won't!" His eyes shook with fear, but he kept his voice steady. "No amount of pain will make me change my mind."  
Pythor twirled the knife with uncanny precision in his fingers and pressed it to the man's neck.  
"Last chance...Julien." Overlord said softly, yet rather menacingly. "I want your younger...son...as my new body. So speed it up, please."  
Julien looked at the blade with dread. He remembered that day so long ago when he had been in a similar position. Samukai had told him that he had to make weaponized vehicles for the skeleton army, else he would go back to the land of the dead. He had given in to their threats, making the weapons and putting all of Ninjago, and his son, in very grave danger because of it.  
He clenched his fists and glared at the snake in the eyes. "Tell your master..." He swallowed hard as the blade began digging into his skin. "Wherever he is in this room..." He hardened his resolve. "I will not tell. I am not as important as all of Ninjago. If I tell you, what will you do with that information? Nothing good, surely. And-" He winced at the pain as the blade pushed into his throat. "And...I am not going to save my own skin again and make..." His voice became very squeaky as he pressed himself as close to the wall as he could get as he tried to elude the blade. "I won't make my son...and..." He couldn't help himself. He involuntarily coughed, pushing the blade deeper, hitting something vital. "Everyone else..." His vision blurred as the blood ran in streams down his shirt. He couldn't continue, as he was certain the blade had pierced his voice box.  
"That's enough." Overlord said. "We're done with this miserable old rusted shell." He gave a dramatic pause, just to annoy his henchman. "Kill him."  
Pythor nodded and hesitantly shoved the knife through the man's throat. The point hit the wall behind Julien and lodged tightly. Julien let out a small grunt as he went limp, hanging in the air by just the knife. He closed his eyes with a feeling of finality. He had done it, and he was proud of himself. He had atoned for the mistakes he had made in his past, and had protected his sons from the Overlord.  
Pythor looked at the scene with disgust, watching the blood drip onto the linoleum in a growing pool. He had never really liked violence. He liked to talk out his problems. If worst came to worst, yes. He would kill. But this life had been taken unnecessarily. It was just wasteful. He didn't care if it was snake or human. No one deserved what he had just done to this innocent person. He swallowed hard and spoke. "What do we do now, sir?" He spat out the words. He hated calling anyone 'sir'. That was his title.  
"Shut the blinds, lock the door. His son is one of the ninja. Another robot, like the one I wanted to obtain here today. I believe his name is Zane, the older sibling. We can leave him a calling card. If his father's body hanging on the wall doesn't push him over the edge, nothing will."  
Pythor quickly shut the ship windows and turned himself invisible again. "Where do we go now?"  
"Nowhere. We stay here and wait. I will have that robot as my hostiam. And I sense that the droid is with its older brother at this moment. They will return together, and soon. Their love for this man was strong."  
Pythor nodded and locked the door hesitantly. Now he had to sit in the room with this dead body for an indefinite amount of time. Perfect.

* * *

Zane whirled his head around frenetically as he tried to find his friend. "Jay!" He called in a loud voice. The yellow light emitting from his head was almost no help. The snow was coming down so fast that the path they had paved only two minutes ago was getting smoothed over.  
Zane felt dread like he had never felt before. If Jay had fallen in the snow, he would be buried in a matter of seconds, never to be found again.  
"Our eyes are no good!" He shouted. "Just dig with your feet.  
Lloyd nodded, even though he knew that Zane could not see the gesture through the torrent of ice and snow. He shut his fingers, instantly killing the green light orb. It took too much of his concentration to run it, anyway.  
He looked up in the sky and noticed how dark it was getting. It wasn't just a trick of the snow, it really was getting dark. And it was getting dark fast.  
Lloyd was finally realizing what Zane meant by 'in his condition.' There was only one condition a person could have in this type of weather, and undoubtedly Jay had it. If he really was buried in the snow, he only had so much time left before he reached the 'point of no return'. "Hypothermia." He whispered to himself, a sick felling in the pit of his stomach. "A bad, bad thing."  
Cyrus was also getting an idea on what was going on. The gears in his head were spinning overtime trying to come up with a logical answer for their unasked questions. He calculated where they were and realized they had gone too far. He looked at a tree a few feet from his face and remembered stopping there for a rest earlier. Way earlier. "We've gone too far!" He shouted to Zane, even though he was standing only a few feet to his right. "We stopped here hours ago. How did we even get this far ahead?"  
Zane looked at their foggy surroundings and groaned. Cyrus was right. Jay could not have come this far.  
Zane pondered their location for a moment. He searched his systems and found the time. "It's after eight!" He shouted, tears falling down his cheeks. They had begun their search at three in the afternoon. "It's over." He fell to his knees in the snow and shook his head over and over again. This had to be a dream. "But...but Nindroids don't dream." He felt himself get lifted to his feet by his brothers.  
"Listen. I don't care how long he's been missing for, Zane." Lloyd said firmly. "We're going to find him." He hesitated a moment. "Him, or his body." Lloyd thought that at this point, finding the latter was loads more likely. But he forced that thought aside and shook his head firmly to make sure it stayed gone. He grabbed Zane's hand. "Come on, guys. Let's turn around and head the other way again. We'll find him." He turned and was hit with a feeling of terror as he looked at where the path should have been.  
"There is no path." Cyrus said. "And using a compass to find it is a useless venture. We need to find Jay, not continue our way north. And the way to find Jay..."  
"Was by following the path." Zane finished. He brushed another frozen tear from his cheek. How could he have let this happen? The one time that Cole put him in charge, and he let him down. He let everyone down.  
Lloyd put his hand on Zane's shoulder. Zane felt the warm hand and looked at the golden ninja, who also had some tears in his eyes. But Lloyd's weren't freezing up like his because of the heat he was emitting.  
"We can do this, Zane." He said softly. Zane understood what he had said more because he read the boy's lips than because he actually heard his voice. "We're with you all the way."  
Cyrus nodded in agreement as a large gust of wind nearly blew them all over. They righted themselves and he spoke. "Don't give up hope, brother." He grabbed Zane's arm and pulled him forward. "We need to turn around and keep looking. We will find Jay."  
Zane allowed himself to be pulled forward as he turned his night vision on. He swallowed down his fears and strode forward with his brothers, scanning the ground for anything that could give them clues to their beloved brother's whereabouts.

* * *

Nya's feet sunk deep into the sand as she tried to keep up with the group. She felt hot and extremely tired as she trudged forward in the middle of the large group of snakes. She had been waiting anxiously for a chance to escape, but had found none. The snakes were too good at what they did.  
"Hey, Nya." Mezmo tapped he shoulder, making her jump. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to tie you up now." Mezmo held up a length of rope, coiled neatly in his scaly hand. "Orobourus issss within our range of sight now, and if the generals saw you untied, they'd have a fit."  
Nya complied to his request and put her arms behind her back, and Mezmo began wrapping the rope around her wrists. "But don't worry. I'll see to it personally that you are untied and put in a comfortable cell as sssoon as possible." He tied the knot hastily, as the group had not stopped when he started binding Nya.  
She wiggled her wrists and realized the ropes weren't as tight as they could have been. They were only there for show. She looked ahead and saw the dull, sandy colored city about a half mile away. "Okay then."  
The Serpentine smiled and stood behind her. "Just walk in front of me, pleasssse."  
Nya obliged him and began walking in front of him, head held up high. She would not cower in fear when she entered the city on parade, she would not humor them by showing emotion for any reason as they laughed and pointed at her in scorn. She would not cry. She would not laugh. She would look straight ahead and treat them like they deserved to be treated. Beneath her notice.

* * *

"Cole!" Kai jumped out of his seat. "Come and look at this, quick!"  
Cole entered the room and ran to where the fire ninja stood. "What is it, Kai."  
Kai pointed at the map. Look at this. The Bridge is picking up signals that the snakes split up a while ago. They've changed directions. You see?" He pointed at the map. There's a small group going toward Birchtree forest."  
Cole's eyes widened in alarm. "And a larger group heading toward Orobourus."  
"I knew it seemed too easy." Kai growled. "Did we really think that the snake holding my sister was stupid enough to give away their rendezvous location?"  
Cole nodded. "It made sense at the time. We need to contact Zane's team. They need to turn around."  
"No, you think?" Kai said sarcastically. "I'll make the call."  
Cole nodded. "Go ahead."  
Kai pushed some buttons and looked up at the screen. It was uncommunicative and blank. Kai sighed. "No signal."  
"What?" Cole pushed some buttons. "But it's the Birchtree forest. They should have service there."  
Kai pushed another button and looked at the screen again. "There's our problem."  
Cole looked at the screen. "A blizzard?" He shook his head in amazement. "A big one, too. Where did that come from?" He looked at Kai, trying his best to stay calm. "They might need help."  
Kai grabbed the wheel and started the engine. "We need to get over there and find them, I guess."  
The floor shook as the engines roared to life and the Bounty began to slowly fly over the ground.  
"We'll be there around nine tonight."


	8. Hope And Despair

**I have an announcement to make. I am currently working on chapter** **12. ***Pause to let it sink in...*

**I know, it's mean of me, keeping you guys limited to one update a week when in reality I'm spouting out one every other day. **

**So... I'll make a deal with you. If I get five reviews by Friday, I'll start updating twice a week. How's that sound? I love bribery ;)**

**Sorry, this chapter has more Nya than anything else. But it's important, so you need to read it. No pressure or anything. **

**And I've honored the request of one of my readers by adding a little more of the 'manly compassion' between Lloyd and Zane. Hope you enjoy! **

**And Please review! Trust me, you want those two chapters a week. I'm getting to the point where there's a clifhanger at the end of every chapter, and only one update a week might be torture. **

* * *

"Halt." A commanding voice said, stopping the army of snakes. Two Venomari guards came forward, wielding sharp spears.  
"It's me, you foolsss." Mezmo said. "I've got the samurai."  
The guards stopped and saluted. "Our apologies." One said as they stepped aside to let the company pass.  
Mezmo gently poked Nya's back, urging her to continue forward. "Welcome to Orobourusss, Nya." He said.  
Nya didn't reply.  
Mezmo puzzled this for a moment before calling one of the guards forward. "Where are the generals?"  
He got his directions quickly and disbanded the company of snakes, telling them to go get their next orders from a higher authority in the city.  
Nya clenched her fists tightly, making the ropes dig into her wrists as she looked around the sandy city. How she hated snakes. How she hated sand. She felt the pain in her feet, which stung like fire as the tiny grains of sand rubbed away at her skin inside her shoes. She was certain that her feet had become one giant blister.  
She limped forward as quickly as possible, not wanting to let on to her host that she was hurt, and also very hungry. She hasn't eaten for an entire day, and she had burned through a lot of calories walking. And her throat felt like sandpaper from a lack of liquid.  
They entered a large building with small window slits around the perimeter, allowing a dim light to filter through the one-roomed building.  
The snake king was sitting at a table alone, eating a variety of fruits and insects.  
Nya and her captor stopped in front of the long table.  
"Sssir." Mezmo bowed low before Scales, who had stopped eating as soon as he had head their footsteps. "I have brought what you asked of me. What do you command next."  
Scales got up from the seat and slithered over to them. "Good work, Mezmo." Scaled hissed as he circled the girl. "Did ssshe give you much trouble?"  
"None at all, sir."  
"None?" Scales raised an eyebrow at Nya. "The great sssamurai warrior, who has brought low hundreds of our kind," he grabbed the rope from Mezmo's hands and twirled it around his fingers tauntingly. "Has submitted to a lowly sssnake, a private, like you?" He looked into Nya's eyes and hummed thoughtfully as Mezmo fumed next to him, hurting deeply from the insults.  
Nya glared into Scales' eyes with a day full of anger and frustration pouring out of her soul and straight into the king snake's large red orbs.  
The Hypnobrai general stared back into hers with even more intensity, pouring out thousands of years of anger and frustration into his captive's small body, making her look out the window timidly before staring at her blistered feet.  
Scales chuckled and handed the rope back to Mezmo. "Well. I suppose it doesn't matter. She isss here, and has no way of escape."  
Nya gathered her courage and looked up again, and straight into the general's eyes. "What do you want from me?" She asked, forcing her swollen, dry tongue to form the syllables.  
Scales chuckled again as he picked up an orange slice. "Nothing." He popped it into his mouth and chewed slowly, purposely making the private and captive impatient. "You are only here asss bait."  
Nya was confused. "Then why send off a team into the Birchtree forest and sidetrack the ninja?"  
Scales clucked his tongue and shook his head, sitting back down in the chair. "Thatsss for me to know, and for you to wonder."  
Nya rolled her eyes. It sounded more to her like he had no clue why he did it.  
Scales saw her face and popped a grape into his mouth. "No, dear girl. I do have a reason. I'm not stupid." He waved his hand dismissively. "Take her to a cell."  
Mezmo bowed again and jerked the rope gently. "Yes, sssir." Nya walked in front of the snake and they left the room.  
"This way, Nya." Mezmo turned her down a large road toward the center of town.  
Hundreds of snakes stopped and pointed as they passed, some laughing at the captive, others just watching.  
Nya blinked heavily, forcing herself not to cry. She sniffed lightly, inhaling a lungful of sand particles that drifted through the air with each hot breath of wind.  
Her head felt groggy and very painful. She wondered how long ago her body had become too dry to even make sweat. The ground beneath her seemed to sway as she walked, and she lost her balance more than once.  
They walked into the center of the city, to where the statue of the Great Devourer used to be. But now, there was just an empty space, devoid of any stones or rubble.  
Mezmo stopped in front of the large prison, where she had stayed the last time she was captured years ago.  
They walked inside the large stone structure and Nya sighed with relief. The dark, uninsulated building felt at least twenty degrees cooler than the outside, clearing her foggy, aching head somewhat.  
Mezmo opened a trap door in the floorboards, which Nya had not noticed before. Perhaps it was a newer renovation that they added after her last escape with the ninja.  
She suddenly felt the bonds get loosened around her wrists.  
"You'll need your handsss to climb down." The snake explained.  
Nya nodded and slowly descended the vertical ladder. Her head suddenly swam and her legs turned to jelly as she tried to stop the spots that swam in her field of vision. She let out a gasp as Mezmo reached down and grabbed her shirt before she could drop into the darkness below.  
"Careful, Nya." The snake said, pulling her easily to a standing position on a rung.  
Nya squeezed her eyes shut and gripped the sides of the wooden ladder, forcing her head to clear itself. She opened her eyes a moment later and took a deep breath. "Thanks." She carefully stepped down the ladder. Her feet made impact with the ground a moment later, and she sat down gratefully and waited for Mezmo. She didn't care how weak she looked on front of this snake anymore. She needed to rest. But more importantly, she needed water. Her breaths came fast, shallow, and very painfully. The pain in every part of her body was constant. Her head ached, her feet most certainly ached, and her abdomen ached from hunger.  
Mezmo jumped the final rung on the ladder and bent over, looking at her face carefully in the torchlight. "I'll get you a drink as sssoon as posssible, Nya." He said, wrapping his arm around her waist and helping her to her feet. She slung her arm over his shoulder and continued panting as they walked down the long corridor.  
Mezmo opened a cell door and it opened silently, revealing a small cot pushed against the wall. The rest of the tiny room was bare.  
Nya dropped down on the hard cot gratefully, lungs too full of needle-like pain to speak anymore.  
Mezmo lit a torch on the wall with his own and backed out of the room. "I'll be back, Nya. Just ressst for a moment." He shut the door and locked it.  
Nya heard his footsteps echo into the distance and disappear.  
She tried to moan but found herself unable to do even that. Dark spots formed in front of her eyes again, and she forced them away with a few hard blinks.  
It felt like hours went by before Mezmo finally returned with a large box full of supplies.  
"Here." He helped her sit up and poured her a cup of water from a large jug.  
Nya took it from him gratefully and gulped it down. It was warm and a little stale, but to her, it was the best water she'd ever tasted in her life. She drained the wooden cup several times before she felt satisfied.  
She took a deep breath. She was still panting a bit from the heat, and her throat still stung a bit, but she wasn't as thirsty. "It-it's so hot down here." She said in a raspy voice.  
Mezmo flicked his tongue into the air and frowned. "You ssshouldnt still feel hot, girl." He said. "It isss rather cool down here." He pondered a moment before finally taking a towel from the box and soaking it in the water jug and rubbing her face gently. "I jussst don't understand it." He said, shaking his head. "You warm blooded people just don't adapt very well."  
Nya sighed gratefully as the water soaked into her skin, cooling her down a bit more as she sunk onto her back on the hard cot and closed her eyes.  
Mezmo continued to rub her exposed skin down, not stopping until her breathing had slowed considerably, and had become a little deeper.  
He went to her feet and began messing with the straps on her sandals. "I noticed your limp." He said. "Your soft human flesh cannot take the sssand very well?" He wiggled off the shoes, making Nya gasp and grit her teeth as the sand grated against her raw skin.  
"What reason do you have to be so kind?" She asked gently, taking a deep breath and swallowing the pain. It was a bitter pill, to say the least.  
Mezmo looked at her quizzically. "Is something wrong with a bit of kindness?" He took the rag he had used on her face and tried to wipe away the sand, but only ground it deeper into the bloody skin.  
Nya pulled her feet away with a jerk. "No, kindness is good. It's just..." She fought for the right wording. "Your kind just hasn't exactly had a record of doing anything that helped 'surface dwellers'." She sat up, making the world spin again, and grabbed the jug of water.  
Mezmo nodded and stepped back, realizing he was only hurting her more by scrubbing at the sand. "True that. But to tell you the truth, I wanted to know what it felt like to be good to a human. To anyone. We've always been the bad guys. And for a good reason. We're bad. But that isss our own choice, don't you see?" He took the jug from her and poured it gently onto her feet, rinsing away the sand and blood. "You are a samurai who worksss with a team of ninjas. You had the choice of being either good or bad, and so did your friendsss. You chose good. Us snakes chose to be bad. But that was a choice made thousands of yearsss ago by our parents. What if we changed?"  
Nya looked at his face with interest. He seemed so sincere. "What do you think will happen?" She ran her fingers gently across her wet feet to make sure all the sand was gone.  
Mezmo seemed happy to finally have someone who would listen to his ideas. His face brightened as he continued. "I think if we started helping you sssurface dwellers, we could live with you on the surface. We could work together and build a new society where we were counted as equals. No human better than Serpentine, and no Ssserpentine better than human." He set the jug down with a long, hissing sigh.  
Nya was astounded. She had always counted the snakes as stupid and inferior. She had never given them a chance. No one had. She realized the potential that this small, rather low-status snake had.  
"You should do it, Mezmo." She said softly. "Do you think you could take the crown from Scales?"  
Mezmo looked at her with surprise. "No." He shook his head. "I'm not ssstrong enough."  
"You could start a coup."  
Mezmo laughed. "With what army? Everyone would think I was nutsss to try."  
"Would they?"  
"Look." Mezmo's voice was terse. "There is only one way to take the crown. And that would be through a one-on-one battle with the leader. That's how Pythor took the crown, and how Scales did before him. Do I look like the type of snake who could defeat the snake who defeated Lord Garmadon?"  
Nya's fingers stopped momentarily and she sat upright. "What do you mean? Scales defeated Garmadon?"  
Mezmo nodded. "Yes. That's what he said when he came back from that copter ride with the other generalsss. Lord Garmadon had tricked us into joining him, then used us to help him find hisss fabled Dark Island. Scales said that he defeated the dark lord and pushed his body out of the copter."  
Nya hesitated. "I...I'm not so sure that's what happened, Mezmo."  
The blue Serpentine looked at her in shock. "Well, that's what he said."  
"Uh huh." Nya said sarcastically. "Cuz he always tells the truth to you lower privates."  
Mezmo looked at her. "Do you know what really happened then, if you're ssso sure he has been lying?" He took some bandages out of the box and started wrapping her feet.  
Nya shrugged. "I don't know what went down in the helicopter, but I know for a fact that Gramadon is alive and well. I just saw him a week ago, as a matter of fact."  
"And what did he do to you?"  
"What?"  
"You know, he is the Dark Lord. Sssurely he didn't just invite you over for tea?"  
Nya laughed. "Actually, he did. I guess you missed the memo. What, with you being locked underground and all, I guess it could be easy to miss that."  
Mezmo tied the white bandage and looked at her face. "Misss what?"  
"Garmadon is good now."  
The Hyprnobrai soldier looked shocked. "He...what?" A smile ran across his face. "And he'sss happy with it?"  
Nya shrugged. "Never been better, I guess. He never complains about anything, at least."  
Mezmo laughed. "That'sss great!"  
"It is?"  
"Yes. It shows usss that even the most corrupted and evil beingsss in the world can become ambassadors for good."  
Nya nodded. "You could say that, I suppose." She wiggled her toes carefully, noting how carefully her feet had been wrapped. She yawned and stretched; happy to have her arms untied.  
Mezmo looked at her concernedly. "What kind of a noise wasss that? Are you ill?"  
Nya chuckled lightly. "No. I'm fine."  
Mezmo looked relieved. "Good." He reached back into the box. "I have one more thing for you before I go." He drew out a bowl filled with food. "You are a prisoner, and technically, you're only supposed to get prisoner'sss cheap food, but to be honessst, even I wouldn't eat the stuff they bring down here. And I'm not usually that picky about my diet." He handed her the wooden bowl, which was filled with sliced fruits and strangely prepared insects.  
Mezmo picked up a particularly large bug and held it up for display. "I don't know what you sssurface dwellers eat, but thisss is as fine as it gets for a snake." He held it out for Nya to take. "Try it."  
Nya took the insect tentatively and took a bite. She was too hungry to care about the flavor. She swallowed and hummed thoughtfully. "That's actually not bad." She said, reading for another. "Thank you, Mez." She caught herself. Did she really just the him an endearing nickname? She let it slide.  
Mezmo smiled and set the plate on her lap. "You're welcome." He began cleaning up the supplies. "Please hurry up with that food, though. We cannot let anyone know that you ate it. We would both be in big trouble.  
Nya nodded absentmindedly. She was more focused on getting a much needed meal inside her body than the snake's warning.  
She had the bowl cleared in a matter of minutes, and then Mezmo took it from her with a toothy smile. "I'll see you later, Nya."  
Nya smiled back and took his hand. "Thank you, Mezmo." She said. "I want to let you know before you leave. If you do decide to try and take that crown, I'll help you to the best of my abilities."  
Mezmo looked confused. "Why?" He asked. "Why would you help me?"  
"Because that's what happens when you are kind to people. Chances are, you get that kindness back, plus some."  
Mezmo nodded and squeezed her hand back. "Thanks."  
He let go of her hand, grabbed the box, and left Nya alone in the torchlit room to rest.

* * *

"I found something!" Lloyd shouted, making Zane's mechanical heart skip a beat. Was it Jay? He dropped to his knees and dug in the snow where Cyrus and Lloyd was scooping as well. A moment later, they uncovered a tree stump.  
Zane groaned and put his head in his hands. It was hopeless. "By my calculations," he said, lifting his face and looking into the wind, "we are too late. We have a slim hope of even finding his body now. The blizzard is getting too strong." He shouted as to be heard over the raging storm, which gained intensity by the minute with no signs of slowing down.  
"That's why it's called hope, Zane." Lloyd replied firmly. "Don't cast it to the wind, we need it." He grabbed Zane's hand and lifted his leader to his feet. "We can do this." He repeated the words for the thousandth time.  
The air was suddenly filled with a new sound. They looked up and saw the Bounty flying over their heads and further north.  
Lloyd looked at the others with a smile. "They're looking for us." He said. "Stay here. Don't move, I'll go and get them."  
Zane and Cyrus nodded in unison.  
Lloyd closed his eyes and focused for a moment, clasping his fingers and pulling them apart slowly. His golden dragon appeared out of the glowing green orb and allowed its master to mount up. "I'll be right back!" He shouted, lifting off into the air with considerable difficulty.

* * *

Cole sat in the Bridge alone, guiding the ship through the forest. He figured that the tracker in Lloyd's communicator watch would start being on his screen when they got close. He just had to fly straight and hope he was right.  
Cole went back to the screen and tripped over Jay's video camera, which was still attached to the screen from earlier, when the blue ninja and Zane had shown off the footage of Lloyd and the pink apron.  
Cole picked up the camera and accidentally pressed a button. The map on the screen disappeared and was replaced by the footage of the prank, playing in fast forward.  
"What on earth." He mumbled to himself, stopping the footage. He paused a moment and looked at the screen. Was that Kai washing dishes with Lloyd? He wondered if that was another part of the prank and pressed the play button.  
"...entered the room." Lloyd's recorded voice came through the speakers. "I don't think Cole or Jay suspect there's a triangle forming."  
Cold raised an eyebrow.  
"Which is good, I suppose." Kai said. "I'm just hoping this whole thing blows over by itself without any more drama."  
Cole couldn't have possibly been more confused. What did this have to do with him and simple shapes?  
"But..." Kai sighed. "If it came down to it, who should I let her go with?"  
Cole'a eyes widened as it dawned on him.  
Lloyd set down his rag and held up a finger. "First of all, Kai, you need to think of what's best for her. Who do you think she'd be happiest with in the long run?"  
Cole's heart skipped a beat, and his mouth dropped to his chest. "Nya..." He fought for the right words, and found none. She wanted him? He had never even-  
He heard footsteps and quickly jerked the camera's wires from the Bridge's computer, instantly stopping the footage.  
Kai entered the room and saw his face. "You look like you saw a ghost." He raised an eyebrow. "You alright?"  
Cole blinked and nodded, winding the wire into a neat loop and setting it aside. He heard the door open and flew toward his missing brother with a gasp of surprise. "Lloyd!" He exclaimed, grabbing the golden ninja's frozen clothing. "Where are the others?"  
"Zane and Cyrus are down there waiting for you to turn around and go back for them. I can't carry them on my dragon, you know." Lloyd started shaking the snow from his clothing.  
Kai instantly whirled the ship around. "Tell me when we're close."

* * *

Zane watched the golden dragon fly unsteadily away into the distance and sighed, getting a lungful of snow and ice. He coughed, somewhat melting the frozen material with his sharp breath.  
Cyrus paced in circles around his brother, unable to stay still or calm, virtues his brother seemed to have down like a heavy book.  
"Careful, Cyrus." Zane tried to reason, looking at the barren surroundings with alarm. "We aren't in the forest anymore. This is the icy glacial areas on the far coast of Ninjago. There are abysses everywhere that a person could fall into and never get found again."  
Cyrus ignored him. He wasn't going to stop walking in a well established circle. The ground where they stood wasn't going anywhere.  
Zane shook his head with a small smile and let him be. He looked ahead and saw something blue on the ground. "Look!" He shouted, pointing to the object.  
Cyrus stopped pacing and squinted into the growing darkness. He saw it. About ten feet away on the ground was a blue piece of cloth. He leaped forward to pick it up. His fingers wrapped around it and he held it in front of his face to scan.  
The ground suddenly gave way beneath Cyrus with a loud snapping sound that rattled the ground under even Zane's feet from a distance.  
Cyrus let out a short yelp as he momentarily had the feeling of weightlessness. His body crunched against a ledge of ice ten feet down. He rolled off of that one and hit another one even further down in the darkness.  
Zane ran to the edge of the hole. "Cyrus!" He cried out. His voice echoed down into the depths. There was no answer.

* * *

Nya awoke with a start. She blinked away the dark spots in her vision and stretched out her limbs over the edge of the small cot. She sat up and turned her head to the door. What was that noise?  
She got to her feet tentatively and limped across the floor. She looked through the slot in the door and gasped. "Jay!" She cried out to the limp body in the Constrictai's large arms. The snake ignored her, putting his full attention on opening the cell door across from hers one-handedly. He roughly slung Jay over his shoulder, letting his upper body hang loosely upside down on his bare, scaly back.  
Nya looked at Jay in shock. What had happened? He looked blue. Was it cold? She didn't see how that was possible in the sandy city of Ouroborus.  
"What did you do to him?" She screamed.  
Having finally gotten a free hand, the snake opened the door quickly and walked inside, removing Jay from his shoulder and throwing him onto the bed with an echoing thump that made Nya cringed and gasp again. The Constrictai second-in-command shut the door behind him with a loud slam and looked at Nya's eyes, which peered through the crack in the cell door with horror.  
"I did nothhhing to him." He said. "He merely got a little cold. He passed out halfway here on the helicopter." He turned and left without another word.  
"Let me out!" Nya screamed. "Let me see him! He needs help!" She jiggled the door handle, but it was stuck fast. She resorted to slamming her weight into it, trying to break it down. It wouldn't budge.  
She finally gave in to fatigue and sunk to the ground, tears blurring her vision. She cupped her head in her hands and sobbed.  
'Merely got a little cold' he had said. That was more than a little cold. That was hypothermia.  
Unless someone got help, Jay was on his final hours.

* * *

**Please review! And I'd like some ideas for what my next story should be! Should the main character be kai? Lloyd? Who should the bad guy be? What kind of perils should they face? **

**Review with this:**

** character(s)**

** bad guy.**

** kind of perils? **

** kind of tragedies?**

**And what you'd liked from this adventure, where Zane is the main character, but everyone get in on the 'fun'. And tell me if you liked the Mezmo twist! I sorta like it. **

**And also... Jaya or Nycole? What pairing should I go with?**

**And check out my poll. seriously, its been up for like a month and not a one person has given me input on it. Be the first!**


	9. Cold Bodies, Cold Hearts

**Guess what? I've gotten six reviews since Tuesday! You all get to read two terrible chapters a week now! Enjoy. You earned it.**

** But please keep on reviewing! I say again, I live off of the feedback! **

* * *

"Cyrus, are you there?" Zane shouted. Nothing but a muffled echo in return, almost drowned out by the raging winds.  
He quickly took out his elemental blade and made an ice ramp. He began sliding down on his feet, making the ramp grow downward as he traveled. He slid down about thirty feet before he found the bottom, digging his heels into the slightly uneven ground as he skidded to a stop. He looked down by his feet and let out an involuntary gasp.  
The ground was littered with dozens of mechanical pieces and parts of his brother. "No." He whispered, falling onto his knees beside Cyrus. He looked at the disaster with feelings of sadness and frustration. How could be have been so irresponsible? Now two members of the rescue party, perhaps Lloyd as well, had been injured under his jurisdiction.  
Zane stopped a tear. Perhaps he could put him back together. Zane examined Cyrus' condition with a feeling of relief.  
Yes, the damage was bad, and some things were irreparable, but he wasn't beyond hope. His body was dented, and there was a deep crack in his right shoulder blade, but that was the worst of the external damage. He looked at Cyrus' hand, which still clutched the blue cloth. Zane pried it from his fingers and looked at it. It was definitely Jay's mask. He shook his head and sniffed, forcing the tears to stay inside his body as he set the mask aside.  
He looked into Cyrus's open, badly bent body cavity. The panel on his chest had opened sometime in the descent, and his pieces had spilled everywhere along the slippery floor, and his main circuit board was cracked in two.  
He examined the heart, which was a special piece that all three siblings had. It was a round, five, flapped mechanical masterpiece that likened itself to an inverted flower blossom, and glowed to indicate that the droid was alive. If the piece stopped glowing, then the droid was dead for good. The body may be repairable, and may even begin functioning normally with a new heart, but the heart held the most important parts of the droid: the memories and personality. If that piece broke, then the droid would never be the same again. The heart also had a regenerating quality, which meant that the robot would never need to plug into an outside source for its power. It created its own energy.  
But when the power in the heart had nowhere to go, it would slowly build up its power until it short-circuited and blew up. Cyrus needed to get repaired as soon as possible, before that happened to him.  
Zane pushed a button in the center of Cyrus' heart, making the five flaps open in synch , as if the flower had opened and spread itself to collect the light, and revealed a faintly glowing ring.  
Zane rolled back on his heels and took a deep breath. What was he supposed to do? Fix him here and hope the others found them soon? Toss all the loose parts into Cyrus' gaping stomach cavity and carry him to the surface, having his father assist in fixing him as soon as they found Jay?  
He decided to try his luck and stay put, focussing his attention on the broken robot before him. He needed to find all the pieces, and then begin the tedious process of repairing Cyrus. His heart could only take the strain of running dry for so long before it stopped forever.

The door Nya slumped against opened without warning and she fell over backward into Mezmo's legs with a yelp of surprise.  
She got to her feet quickly, oblivious to the pain in her throbbing temple and feet. "Mezmo!" She cried out, grabbing his shoulders.  
The blue snake took a step backward in surprise. "What isss the matter, Nya?" He wiggled out of her death grip on his shoulders. "I was descending the ladder when I heard you making that ssstrange noise. Are you-"  
Nya cut him off. "It's Jay." She pointed at his cell. "Something's wrong with him, Mezmo." She sniffed and made a loud hiccuping noise as she tried unsuccessfully to stop crying. "P-lease help him."  
Mezmo nodded and took a set of keys from his belt. "Fortunately, Ssscales put me in charge of guarding you and the male ninja prisoner." He selected a small key and inserted it into the lock. "Ssso I have the authority to...switch you around to different cells if it ssso pleased me."  
Nya sighed deeply and momentarily stopped crying. "Thank you, Mez." She stood at his side and waited impatiently for the door to unlock. The moment she heard the click, she shot forward and pushed the door open.  
Mezmo lit the torch on the wall with the one in his hand, illuminating the tiny cell and the cold body on the bed.  
Nya gasped and dropped to her knees in front of the low cot.  
She put her fingers on his icy cold neck and choked on her tears. "Please give me a pulse." She whispered. She was rewarded with a slow, uneven tapping underneath the skin above his collarbone.  
She frowned. Yes, it was good that his heart was beating. The part that concerned her was how it was beating. His body was slowly shutting down. His heart was straining to keep up with the demands from the rest of his body, and was sluggish because of the cold.  
She shook her head and wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. "What happened, Mezmo?" She whispered.  
The snake walked over the bed and peered down at Jay. "I heard he was the one sent to ressscue you. He followed the tracker through Birchtree forest and was caught, already deliriousss and very cold from the blizzard."  
"The blizzard?" Nya was shocked and confused. "And there was no one else with him?"  
"Not asss far as I know."  
Why? It was so unlike her friends and brothers to do something like this. To send Jay off by himself?  
"Surely someone else was there, Mezmo. I know my brothers. They wouldn't just sent Jay off by himself." Nya said, trying to convince herself more than him.  
Mezmo nodded. "But perhapsss no one went with him because no one knew where he was going?"  
Nya groaned and pressed her hand to her forehead. Her head was aching so bad it felt like it would burst. "Having heat stroke can do that to you." She mumbled under her breath.  
"What wasss that?" Mezmo asked, thinking that she was talking to him.  
"Nothing." Nya said, removing her hand from her forehead and placing it on Jay's chest. It made her ache terribly, seeing him like this.  
She got to her feet slowly. "Are there any extra blankets?" She asked.  
Mezmo nodded. "In every cell there isss one sheet. I'll go get a couple." He left the small room quickly.  
Nya sighed and did a facepalm, slowly moving her hand down her face until it fell off her chin. "This just isn't my day." She groaned.  
She hardened her resolve and undid the sash at his middle. His clothes were soaking wet from what Nya assumed was melted snow. And that meant they were now wet, which meant they were also cold.  
That was not what she wanted. She wanted dry and warm. Mix 'fast' and 'soon' in there and you've got what she wanted on the side, though it didn't seem as important that it happened fast, as long as he just got better.  
She pulled off the waterlogged shirt and set it aside. Her fingers twitched as she hesitantly went for the sash that held his pants up. "Definitely not my day." She mumbled, taking a deep breath and springing for it without allowing herself the benefit of the doubt. She needed to save his life. That was more important than modesty. She set the pants aside and felt the sticky, damp skin on his chest, another feeling of panic and anxiety hitting her. He was way too cold. And his chest wasn't rising high enough or nearly fast enough.  
She set the one blanket over him and ran to get her own out of her cell. She laid her thin sheet over him and tucked it in around his body to make sure he retained as much heat as possible. The underground prison wasn't warm enough to allow Jay to make body heat without it leeching into the cool, damp air.  
She lifted her hand and brushed away another tear, looking at his face with blurry vision.  
His face looked peaceful. Serene, even. A tiny smile seemed to pucker at his lips on one side of his face, but Nya was almost completely certain that was just the way his face was shaped, as he needed to be purposefully trying in order to get the lip to turn downward and look like the average person's lip. She brushed his hair out of his eyes carefully, getting it to look semi-neat on his head.  
"I'm back." Mezmo said, breaking Nya out of her thoughts. He presented her with an armload of blankes. "Is thisss enough?" He asked.  
Nya nodded. "Plenty. Thank you." She took the blankets one by one and put them over him.  
When she was done, she reached her hand carefully underneath every layer and felt the temperature of the air around his skin. It was as if his skin was a block of ice. The air was freezing.  
"That's not good." Nya said to herself. She was thoughtful for a moment. "Hey Mez. Do you know of any warm item around here that I could stick against his skin to get him warm?"  
Mezmo nodded. "Your own body heat? You've been very warm since you got here hoursss ago."  
"New plan." Nya dismissed that immediately.  
Mezmo looked confused. "What's wrong? It would work."  
"Nope." Nya said determinedly. "Find something else besides me to do it."  
"Sssand?"  
"Do you have a soft bag to put it in? Or better yet, several?"  
Mezmo shook his head. "I'm sure sssomeone does, but they wouldn't give them to me."  
Nya groaned lightly. Her options were getting slimmer. "Is there anything else here? Perhaps come cans we could heat up in a fire?"  
"We don't usssse either here."  
"Augh!" Nya threw her hands up in the air and took a deep breath. "Fine. Whatever. I'll do it." She looked at Mezmo and flashed him a fake smile. "Okay. I've got an idea. But I don't need your help for it. So please...just get back to guarding. That's what I need you for right now."  
Mezmo nodded and turned to leave.  
Nya suddenly felt guilty for shutting him out. She put a hand on his shoulder, making the blue snake stop and turn to face her.  
Nya gave him a real smile. "Thank you so much, Mez. You don't know how much it means to me, having you helping me throughout my journey here."  
Mezmo nodded, obviously a little confused by her gestures. "My pleasssure. But please, just go and sssave your mate. Even a sssnake can see he doesn't have much time left." He turned and left, locking the door behind him.  
"He's not my mate." Nya growled to the closed door.

Lloyd pointed on the zoomed-in digital map. "I left them right about here."  
Kai nodded and turned some dials. "Okay, this'll only take a minute. I'll land on the ground at your location and they can climb aboard."  
Thump.  
Everyone turned toward the window to see what was making the noise.  
"It's the falcon!" Garmadon exclaimed.  
Pixal jumped to her feet and ran out the door, a blast of icy wind running through the Bridge as the door shut behind her. She returned a moment later with the bird in her arms, letting in yet another icy torrent that send everyone's hair flying into their faces.  
"I got him." She said, setting it down on the table. The bird jumped and made noises in its throat, as if trying to communicate with it's master's sister.  
Pixal looked at the black feathered bird thoughtfully. "I think it may have a message for us, but I cannot be certain. I am not as familiar with the falcon as Zane is." She opened its panel and pushed a button. The Bridge's screen lit up with a recording.  
"It's Jay!" Cole exclaimed, pointing at the blue figure alone on the path. The recording was fuzzy and hard to interpret because of the snow flying in front of the screen, but it was clearly the missing ninja.  
"It's still light in this recording." Misako stated. "This happened hours ago."  
Lloyd nodded. "Misako is right. You see?" He pointed at the corner of the screen. "Every once and a while, you catch sight of my kimono. This was when he was still following us."  
Everyone watched the screen, wondering what it was the bird was trying to show them.  
"The snakes!" Kai exclaimed suddenly. They watched in horror as Jay was dragged out of the falcon's vision and into the ground.  
The screen went blank, and the falcon started jumping, willing Pixal to close it's panel so it could fly into its perch. Pixal moved her hand to do so, then stopped when the bird's eyes suddenly turned blue. The falcon let out a chirp of alarm and began hopping around on the table.  
Kai snapped his fingers. "It's Zane! He's trying to communicate with us." He grabbed the wriggling bird and took it to the large screen, plugging it in quickly. The bird immediately calmed down and began producing more video. This one was a live feed of what Zane was seeing and doing. It was in much better quality that the recording, as there was no snow to obscure the camera, or in this case, Zane's eyes, from focussing on the scene. But the screen did have a dark green hue, most likely Zane's night vision. Which made sense, because it was rather dark outside.  
"Ar...th..e-re." Zane's voice came through the speakers, crackly and indistinguishable. "Cyr...all...hel-p...ast."  
Cole messed with some wires, and the audio connection was lost entirely. "Whoops." Cole groaned and went back to his seat.  
"What is it?" Kai asked no one in particular as he watched the screen. It looked like a miniature junkyard, with Zane's hands moving the pieces as if it were a puzzle. "And where is he? There should be snow nearly blinding the screen. It looks disconcertingly peaceful to be a scene of the outside world at this moment in time."  
"Unless he's in an ice cave." Garmadon stated. "Which is a possibility. There are hundreds along the northern coast, which happens to be where we are."  
"Speaking of which," Kai ran to the wheel and pulled a lever. "We're here, I think." The Bounty descended to the ground with a loud crunch.  
Pixal suddenly let out a cry of alarm and ran to the screen. "Cyrus!" She cried out, touching the screen with a tentative finger, as if it really were Cyrus there, and not just a recording. A tear slid down her cheek. "Guys, it's Cyrus."  
Misako nodded and sighed. "Ice cave. He must have fallen into one of them."  
Cole ran to the door. "Well don't just stand there, guys!" He grabbed the door handle and pointed with his free hand. "Kai and Lloyd. You two follow me. We're going out there to get them."  
Kai and Lloyd ran outside behind their leader and almost blew over when they stepped outside into the gusty wind. Cole jumped over the edge of the ship, the others following carefully.  
"Let's find that cave!" Cole shouted as soon as they had joined him on the ground. "And be careful. We could fall into one of those holes just as easily as Cyrus apparently did-ow!" Cole rubbed his head and looked up. The falcon was flying in unsteady circles around their heads, scratching them with its feet as it passed.  
"Pixal must have let him out." Lloyd suggested. "Maybe he knows where Zane is!"  
Kai nodded. "Let's follow him and find out."  
The bird, having caught their attention, began flying in the straightest line it could muster up in the wind. After about a hundred feet, it dove into the ground and out of their sight.  
Lloyd ran to where the bird had fallen, and realized that it had purposely dove into a large hole in the ground, not fallen in the snow.  
"Zane!" Lloyd's voice echoed into the hole. "Are you down there?" He waited a tense moment as the others gathered at the mouth of the hole.  
"Yes!" Zane's voice bounced back to their ears. "Come quickly. Use my ice bridge."  
Lloyd looked around the mouth of the hole and saw what Zane was talking about. "You guys ready?" He asked, taking a deep breath. "Jump after me." He said, leaping onto the bridge. He held out his right hand and started making a crude railing along the side of the seemingly floating and very slippery path. He looked behind him and smiled. Kai and Cole both held onto the rail with no problem.  
Lloyd's feet touched the bottom and he saw Zane's silhouette on the floor. He tapped the Nindroid's shoulder. "You okay, Zane?"  
Zane jumped and got to his feet with a long sigh. "Yes. But I cannot say the same for him." He lit up his head with a yellow light, illuminating the prone, disassembled droid on the icy floor.  
Cole and Kai reached the bottom and unceremoniously slid across the floor, ramming into Lloyd's back. All three of them tumbled onto floor in a tangle of arms and legs. They quickly untangled themselves and stood up in unison.  
Cole thought that on a normal day, Zane would have thought the accidental tumble humorous. But right now, he looked more solemn than Sensei Wu when he was looking into the spirit smoke.  
Cole stepped forward, pretending not to be disconcerted by Zane's glowing head. "What do you want us to do?" He asked.  
Zane pointed at Cyrus. "He needs immediate repair. Is the Bounty nearby?"  
Kai nodded his head. "Less than a hundred feet away. A quick jog, if the waist-high snow doesn't bother you too much."  
Zane nodded, not sensing the poorly placed sarcasm. "Good. And no, Kai. The waist-high snow does not bother me." He got to his knees in front of Cyrus and began picking up pieces. "If I could get you three to help me carry him back, please. It is imperative that his spinal vertebrae stay stable and straight, since he has no other abdominal support at this moment."  
Kai gave him a lost look.  
Cole rolled his eyes. "Cyrus has nothing holding him together but a dented, cracked spine. Zane needs us to lift him carefully and keep his body rigid, otherwise he may rip in two."  
Kai nodded and got to his knees, helping Zane pick up all the tiny pieces. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "'Course. Hehe... I knew that."


	10. Warning: Prophesies May Break Ice

**Review and enjoy! I haven't gotten any reviews on chapter 9. That disappoints me a lot. **

* * *

Nya sat in the bed, tapping her fingers to a catchy beat impatiently. When was Jay going to wake up? She had been sitting next to him, sharing her body heat, for several hours.

She turned over and touched his bare chest. His body temperature was almost normal now, and he had finally started shivering an hour ago. That was a good sign. It meant that his body finally recognized that it was cold, and that it was now making its own heat normally.

She checked his pulse and was happy to see that the light, uneven tapping that she had found at his neck earlier had turned into a steady thump.

Jay suddenly took a deep breath and turned over, making a short moaning noise in his throat.

She got out of the bed with relief and winced when her sore feet hit the rocky ground. She adjusted the blankets on Jay's sleeping form and sat on the floor, watching the torchlight flicker off his face.

Jay was finally waking up, and she was glad that she had gotten out of the bed before he saw her. No one needed to know what measures she had taken to save his life.

Jay's eyes fluttered open and he rubbed his forehead with his palm. He saw Nya and sat straight up, eyes wide with a mix of joy and alarm. "Nya!" He exclaimed. He realized his lack of clothes and had the decency to stay put in the bed. "Are you okay?"

Nya nodded and stood up. "Yes. I am fine." She handed him his clothes. "Here." She turned around and looked through the slit in the door, plainly telling him that he was to get them on before she slitted his throat.

Jay got the message and slipped into the slightly damp clothing. "Clear." He tightened the sash at his waist.

Nya nonchalantly turned around and leaned against the wall under the mounted torch. "Have a nice rest?"

Jay nodded slowly. "I guess so." He ran his fingers through his hair and got it looking halfway decent. "What's your story?" He asked, sitting back down. He felt nauseas and rather ill.

Nya shrugged. "I was kidnapped from Julien's workshop, dragged here, saved you from death." She sat down next to him. "What's your story?"

Jay shrugged, much as Nya had. "I went with Zane, Lloyd and Cyrus to save you, got separated from the group in Birchtree forest, got kidnapped, dragged roughly onto a creepy-living-snake-copter-thingy, blacked out, woke up here naked." He raised an eyebrow. "'Cuz that was a necessary part of saving me from death."

Nya glared at him warningly. "Tell anyone otherwise and you will die tragically in a fiery car crash the next day."

"Started by your brother?"

"Of course."

"My lips are sealed."

"Excellent." Nya got up from the bed and looked out of the slit in the door again. "I wonder when Mez will be here with dinner."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Mez?"

Nya nodded and turned around. "Yeah. Our guard."

Jay nodded. "And the first to go when we escape." He got halfway onto his feet when he suddenly moaned and gripped his head, laying back down on the cot. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Nya shook her head. "No, we don't kill Mez." She walked over to the bed and sat down. "You okay?" She reached over to put a hand on his forehead.

Jay pushed her hand away. "Why not? Mez is a snake, right?"

"Mezmo." Nya corrected, crossing her arms and standing up. "And yes. He's a Hypnobrai private."

"A lower ranked soldier?" Jay's left eyebrow couldn't have been closer to Mars. "Our friend?"

Nya nodded again. "Yes, and yes. Now be quiet. I think I liked you better half dead. At least you were silent."

Jay rolled his eyes and closed them tightly, folding his hands on his chest and crossing his legs casualy. "Yes ma'am."

* * *

"Easy, Kai." Zane said, holding up Cyrus' body carefully while the fire ninja reshaped his shoulder. "Be a little more patient with it. We don't want to-"

"Yeah! I know!" Kai was annoyed by Zane's finicky attitude. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down a bit. "You told me a thousand times already. On every other crack and dent I fixed."

Cole stood at the wheel, certain that his face was pale as the moon that shone in the sky above them. His head was still spinning from the video of Kai and Lloyd's conversation. He had honestly never considered Nya as an option before. Ever since they first learned that Kai had a sister, Jay had practically claimed her for his own. And honestly, he was flattered, but he didn't want her.

He looked at Kai, who was running his fingers along the rounded edge of Cyrus' shoulder, smoothing out the red hot metal.

"I could try." Lloyd offered from his seat in the corner. He stood up and strode toward the table.

Zane shook his head. "I need Kai to do it. He has more experience with metalworking than you do. But thank you for the offer." He used his ice powers and cooled down the smooth, newly repaired shoulder. "That was the last one anyway."

Lloyd shrugged. "Suit yourself." He left the room.

Zane examined the shoulder and nodded at Kai. "Thank you."

Kai nodded back and cooled his hand. "No problem." He went to the Bridge's large screen and checked their coordinates. "And I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you."

Zane grabbed a towel and buffed the metal. "That's okay. We are in an upsetting mood." His cyan blue irises trembled in their setting of pearly white.

Pixal nodded, touching her brother's shoulder. "You especially, Zane." She said softly. "I have noticed a dramatic change in your attitude since Misako called you out of the room yesterday, during the rescue meeting. What troubles you?" Her green eyes looked into Zane's sympathetically.

Cole nodded, letting go of the wheel. "I agree. This seems to go deeper than just our current circumstance. We've been in similar situations before, and you've always kept your cool." He walked over to where Zane was piecing together Cyrus' gears in the arm socket area of the shoulder and back. Cole wiped a small puddle of water from one of the gears. The snow had coated everything on the walk back to the Bounty. "What did Misako tell you that troubled you so much?"

Zane started shaking. He shook so hard the wire that the held in his hand got pulled from its socket in Cyrus' panel. He groaned and tried to pushed it back into place as tears started to fall down his face. "I..." He swallowed hard. "I don't know if I should tell you." He gave up on the wire and sat down in the chair behind where he stood. He buried his face in his hands. "You are right. It goes beyond today's circumstances. Misako's words did trouble me greatly. It's part of a wound I've been hiding for decades."

Pixal pulled up a chair and sat next to him. "You are hurt? I may be able to help, brother."

Zane shook his head. "It's a wound with...no cure..." He sniffed.

Cole raised his eyebrow at Kai. Why was Zane acting so weird? He walked over to Zane and put a hand on his shoulder. "We're your friends, Zane."

Kai nodded. "And brothers. You can tell us."

"No!" Zane shouted. He jumped to his feet, making bother Cole and Pixal jump in surprise. Zane wiped his eyes clean, revealing a hurt and anger that terrified the three companions that stood at the ready.

Zane shook his head firmly. "I will not share. Not now." He walked over to the table where Cyrus lay in pieces. He shut his eyes tightly and bit the inside of his lip. "And most likely...not any other day...either." He ran out of the room so fast some papers fell off the shelf next to the door as he flew past.

Pixal looked at Cole wide-eyed. "Has he acted like this before?" She asked.

Cole blinked and forced himself to look away from the door, which Zane had left ajar. He shook his head in bewilderment. "No." He said. He looked at Kai determinedly. "We're going to find out what is going on."

Kai nodded, forcing his eyes away from the door. "How do we do that? Zane's closed like a hard cover book."

"With lead bindings." Pixal added.

Cole walked toward the door, beckoning them forward. "I know. That's why we are going to Misako."

They went down the hall and passed the entertainment room, where the four Garmadon's were playing a board game.

"Good." Cole said when they were out of hearing range. "They'll be busy for a while. We have plenty of time to search her scrolls."

They reached Misako and her husband's room and turned on the light.

"Here it is." Pixal unloosed the long strap from the bedpost and handed it to Cole.

Cole unscrewed the lid and took out the scroll on top. "Close the door please, Kai." He said quietly as he unrolled the parchment.

Kai shut the door and began helping Cole with the task of reading the scrolls. "Are you sure it's in here?"

Cole rolled up his scroll and sighed. "No." He set it aside and reached for another. "But it's our best lead. We all know how Misako is into prophesies, and I can't imagine anything shaking Zane more than a bad message about the future."

"But it could be anything." Pixal stated as she scanned an old, faded paper. "Even if it was a scroll that she showed him. It could have been any number of things that would shake him like that. What are we looking for? He could have read something about the future of Ninjago. Perhaps a message about a new menace?"

Kai shook his head. "Are you kidding?" He said, tossing aside another scroll and picking up a new one. "That kind of stuff wouldn't phase him in the least. Besides, you heard him yourself. He said something about a wound."

Cole nodded and sighed. He would be at a loss if it weren't for the pictures. Many of the scrolls were written in a language he did not understand. "Kai is right. Whatever is scaring Zane, it's about his own future. I just wish he would tell us, so we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."

Kai's hands started shaking. "Pixal, can you read this." He handed her the scroll.

Pixal took it and nodded. "Indeed. I can read this easily." She scanned the page and gasped. "Cole?" She said softly. "I think we found it."

* * *

Nya sat on the cold stone floor, immensely enjoying the silence that had ensued over the course of fifteen minutes after Jay fell asleep. She felt sort of bad for reproaching him like she had, but he didn't seem to mind too much. It happened often enough that he had apparently gotten used to it.

Nya finally was feeling hopeful, now that Jay was regaining some health. The time of their escape was close at hand.

She heard keys rattling and jumped to her feet carefully, minimizing the pain in her blistered feet.

The door opened slowly and Mezmo appeared with a small bowl of food.

"Greetingsss." He said, glancing at the bed. "I see he is doing better?"

Nya nodded and took the bowl from his hands. "Yes, he is. Hold on a moment." She set down the bowl and contemplated the best way to wake him up. After a few seconds, she decided on the fail-safe method. "Get up, Jay." She said loudly. "It's dinnertime."

Jay's eyes flew open, and he shot upright in bed with a cry of alarm. "You don't have to yell that loud, Nya. I could hear you just fine in your regular voice." He looked at her face and groaned as the world spun out of focus.

"Mezmo is here." Nya said.

Jay grimaced slightly from the pain in his head. "Who?" He squinted at the blue figure and tried to get him in focus.

Nya raised an eyebrow at him. "We talked about this earlier? Mezmo? The snake you're not supposed to kill?" She set the bowl on his lap.

Jay snapped his fingers. "Right. I remember now."

Mezmo walked to the side of the bed. "My apologies, Nya." He said. "I wasss unable to get you any good food. It'sss just regular prisoners fare tonight."

Nya shrugged. "It's okay. Thank you." She gestured to Jay's bed. "I can finally give you a proper introduction. "This is Jay."

Jay struck out his hand. "Hey there, Mez. Heard a lot about you." He held his hand up for about four seconds before he realized the snake wasn't familiar with the custom of handshaking. "Well, not a lot, I suppose."

He reached his hand into the bowl and took out a slimy piece of fruit, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue as he dropped it back into the bowl.

Mezmo nodded and gave a short bow. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am sure we will get to know each other very well during your ssstay."

Nya saw that Jay wasnt eating the food and took the bowl from him and started eating it herself. If he wasn't hungry, that was his problem. "Any news?" She asked.

Mezmo nodded. "I've gotten a few more Venomari convinced."

Nya nodded. "Do you have a plan on how to proceed?" She shuddered slightly as the warm fruit slid down her throat.

Mezmo nodded. "I've just got to get at least two generals on my side to start a battle. I am getting close. I've actually gotten Bytar. He is the right hand man in the Constrictai tribe. He is talking to his commander right now, as we speak. If he convinces the general to join, that is a big boost to our numbers. The entire Constrictai tribe!" Mezmo's face lit up. "Thing are going well. Hopefully, I will be king by dawn, and you humansss will be free to go home."

Jay knotted his brow. "But won't your current king, Scales, see what you are doing and stop you?"

Mezmo shook his head. "I don't know how things work where you come from, but our kind likesss battles. I would like to surprise Scales, but if he wasss to find out, he would welcome it. He would see it asss a chance to show off his strength."

Jay sighed. "I can imagine Scales being like that."

Nya nodded and passed that half-eaten bowl to back to Jay, who reluctantly took it. He stared at it for a moment before hunger won the battle in his mind (or stomach) and he emptied the bowl.

A loud thumping noise suddenly echoed in the hall. All three heads turned at the sight of the short Constrictai snake stopping at their open door and bowing slightly. "Sssir." He said, going back into an upright position. "Scalidor accepts your invitation, and wants to know what your plan isss."

Mezmo smiled. "Good." He clasped his hands. "Just wait for my command. The call will come within a few hours to begin the battle. For now, jussst try to prepare in as much secrecy as possible."

Bytar nodded. "Yes sir." He ran back down the hall and was gone.

"We won't be able to keep this a secret much longer." Nya stated. "Scales isn't stupid. Chances are, he already knows about your plans. And if not, he will soon."

Mezmo nodded. "I know. But I'd like to try anyway. Surprise is always good." He looked at Jay. "Can you fight?"

Jay laughed. "I'm a ninja. If course I can fight." He swung his legs over the side of the bed and moaned involuntarily. "But maybe not right this minute."

Nya helped him get back into a laying position. "Or the minute after this." She said. "You finished that bowl, now you're going to sleep again. Your body needs time to heal. You have some temporary brain damage from the cold. It's like when you get dizzy from spinning too long, but a little more serious." She handed him a cup of water. "The cells in you brain just need time to regenerate, then you will feel better."

Jay drained the glass. "Okay." He handed the cup back to Nya and closed his eyes. "If sleeping means I can get you out of here, I'll do it." He peeked open one eye mischievously. "On one condition."

Nya raised her eyebrow. "What?"

"Will you give me a kiss?" Jay's eyes sparkled with good humor.

Nya chuckled. "No. Stay awake and kill us all because you didn't listen to me."

Jay pretended to pout. "Fine." He closed his eyes again.

Mezmo looked confused. "Aren't you mates?"

"No!" Nya growled. "Most certainly not."

"Yet." Jay said, opening his eye just a crack so he could see her reaction. Big mistake. Nya gave him a sidelong glance that told him that fiery car crash may come, whether he told the world about Nya's body warming methods or not.

* * *

Cole sidled up to Pixal's shoulder and looked at the scroll in her hands. "What does it say?" He said quietly, looking at the picture.

Pixal stuttered a moment. "I-it says: The three guardians of the elemental blades shall assist their ward, the golden ninja, in defeating the Overlord once again."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"Cole." Kai reasoned. "There are four elemental blades."

"Look at the picture." Pixal pointed. "I see Kai, Jay, Cole and Lloyd in this prophesy."

Cole looked at the bottom of the page. She was right. There were four ninja there. Gold, blue, red and black figures were present on the bottom of the page. He looked at the top of the page and his heart went into his throat. "I-is that..."

"Zane?" Kai said, looking at the Overlord's portrait. "Yes. It appears so."

Pixal sunk to her knees. "You will have to kill Zane." She whispered.

"No!" Cole shouted, banging his hand on the table. "We will not. There must be a way around this."

Kai took the parchment from Pixal's fingers gently and rolled it up. "But Misako's scrolls have never been wrong before."

Cole grabbed a scroll from the table and rolled it up carefully, shoving it back into the case. "There's a first time for everything."

"Indeed." A voice said behind them, making them jump. They turned around and faced the owner of the soft, sad voice.

Zane still had tears in his eyes, and his fingers had a slight tremor as they hung limply at his sides. He swallowed hard and spoke again. "There is a first time to everything. But it is hard to cheat Destiny. I doubt there is any way to save me."

"Zane!" Cole exclaimed. He dropped his scroll on the bed and strode toward his best friend. "If there is a way, a chance, even a glimmer of a hope, we will find it for you." He threw his arms around the Nindroid gently and pulled him into a light squeeze. "Rest assured, the Overlord will have to go through me to get to you."

"Me too." Kai said, tossing his scroll aside as well and coming forward. "We won't give you up without a fight. If the Overlord so much as scratches your paint, I'll be visiting his nightmares for all of eternity."

Pixal pushed the two men aside and kissed Zane tenderly on the cheek. She threw her arms around the quite bewildered android and held him tightly.

Zane hesitantly returned the embrace, more tears falling down his long cheekbones. "Thank you." He whispered. He breathed in deeply and let out a hiccuping sigh. "You have no idea what this means to me." He closed his eyes tightly and smiled weakly.

Cole smiled. "No, we don't." He said. "Because you haven't been honest with us. Your teammates, your best friend, and your sister. You've been shutting us out."

Zane opened his eyes and removed himself from his sister's embrace gently. He shook his head. "No, I haven't been honest." He began picking up the scrolls and sliding them into Misako's case. He was done in under a minute, and screwed the lid back on with a sigh. He slung it over the side of the bed, just as it had been before. He looked at his three friends, eyes sparkling like frost. "But we don't have time right now. I sense that we are getting close to Ninjago City. I need to get back to work on Cyrus. I want to get as much done as possible, as to not alarm my father too much at the immensity of his damage." He strode toward the door. "Let's go."

The four companions went back to the Bridge. Kai went to the digital map and nodded at Zane. "You were right. It'll only be about two more minutes before we can drop anchor at your dad's place."

Zane wasn't listening. He grabbed the last piece from his pile on the table and carefully put it in place. Zane sighed with relief and touched a button on the touch screen control panel. The gears started whirling and Cyrus' body jerked to life.

Cyrus tried to sit up but Zane stopped him. "No, brother. Just stay there. How do you feel?"

Cyrus looked up at Zane concernedly. "YoU'vE beEn cRyinG?" He reached up and wiped Zane's face dry. "NOt ovER Me, I hOpe. I Am fINe." His voice was monotonous and crackled.

Zane nodded and smiled. "Yes, brother. You will be fine. But your main circuit board is irreparable. I am going to get you a new one from father." He took Cyrus' hand. "Just lie still. It will only be a few more minutes."

Cyrus closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "VErY welL. I SHalL StAy HerE."

Zane closed Cyrus' chest panel, which Kai had helped repair. "Good man." He said, patting the broken robot's shoulder and walked over to where Cole and Kai had been watching. "How close are we now?"

Kai turned and looked at the screen. "We're here." He began directing the ship to a place where they could drop their anchor, and not break through someone's roof. Kai finally pulled a lever, and the heavy anchor dropped into a clump of trees on the side of Julien's workshop. "Let's go." Kai pushed another lever and the Bounty stopped its forward motion and began levitating in place.

Zane walked over to the table where Cyrus lay. "I suppose I will have to get you to stand up now." He grasped Cyrus' hand and pulled him to a sitting position.

Cyrus jerkily swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood up. He lost his balance and fell forward. Zane caught him around the waist and pulled his to his feet again. "Easy, brother." Zane warned. "You are moving too fast. Have patience." He wrapped Cyrus' arm around his shoulder and held it tightly. Cyrus used this support to slowly regain his balance.

Lloyd suddenly appeared in the doorway and looped Cyrus' other arm around his shoulder. "Glad to see you standing again, brother." He said in the most cheerful tone he could muster.

"ThaNk YOu." Cyrus crackled. "HavE wE saVed JAy And NyA?"

Lloyd's face darkened. "No."

"But we're going to. Just as soon as we fix you." Kai said determinedly.

Cyrus's face darkened. "YoU dO noT HaVE To wAiT foR mE." He slowly took a step forward. "JusT LeAVe mE heRe. I Am NoT iMporTaNT. FiNd Nya aNd JAy. ThEn cOme BacK For Me." He hobbled down the hall slowly between the two ninja, followed by Pixal, Cole and Kai.

"Not on your life." Lloyd said. "Your coming with us."

"You may have some damage I overlooked, brother." Zane said. "You must let my father look at you with his tools and equipment in our home."

Cyrus did not protest again. He allowed them to help him climb up the Ultra Dragon, and they descended to the ground.

The dragon landed with a soft thud that Zane hardly noticed, but Cyrus let out a grunt of complaint as his weak body moved with the dragon's back.

Zane and Lloyd wrapped their arms around his shoulders once again and they dropped from the dragon's back.

Zane handed Kai the key to the door. "He usually keeps it locked, even when he's home." He said quietly.

Kai took the key and unlocked the door. He stepped inside and let out a grunt as he fell to the ground unconscious, and was dragged inside by a tall figure beyond the shadowy entrance.

* * *

**Review please! And give me your guesses on what will happen next. I'd like to see just how predictable I am. (But anyone who's read '****_Nya's Journey To Where She Is today' _****knows that I'm usually not that predictable) **

_*Zane laughs in background*_

**Again I ask: Jaya or nyCole?**

_Zane: Zaya!_

**Quiet. **


	11. Love, Courage And Sacrifice

**Fair warning. More blood/gore stuff like with Julien a few chapters back. This will be one of the more intense chapters. **

* * *

Nya sat on the hard floor, oblivious to the pain in her spine and tailbone as she rested against the wall under the lit torch.

She had insisted that Jay got the bed, because he was still recovering from the hypothermia. He seemed to be showing signs of a mild case of amnesia, as he forgot things easily. He remembered things of his past with no problem, but every once and a while, there would be a lull in their conversation, then Jay would suddenly get all confused and ask what they had been talking about.

He also forgot Mezmo's name quite frequently, and more oft than naught attacked the snake when it came through the door, until Nya could get him to once again remember that the Hypnobrai was their ally.

He also forgot where they were quite often, and would think that he was still out in Birchtree forest searching for his female companion.

Nya was trying to be patient with him, as it really wasn't his fault. He would heal eventually. But for now, she just had to deal who his occasional moments of forgetfulness.

She breathed in deeply, inhaling the cool, slightly humid air with contentment. It felt good, having finally cooled down to a normal body temperature and ridding herself of the heat stroke.

She did note, however, that Jay was not as fortunate. He needed the exact opposite climate that she did. He was still shivering a bit. His body temperature should have definitely been a little warmer.

She wished that they could have been above ground, so he could warm up a bit.

She took another deep breath. Patience. They were just hours away from deliverance, and then he would probably get more sun than he needed. After the battle.

Nya opened her eyes slowly, adjusting them after having had them closed for over thirty minutes. She blinked and looked at the far wall, where Jay was sleeping peacefully, that ridiculous and totally cute smile still clinging to his face like a parasite.

She looked at his face and tried to remember the last time she actually saw him truly frown. No memory came to mind. She drew a big blank. Indeed, he was just incapable of such an act. Even when things looked completely hopeless, he found a place to jam in a joke or a pun.

Nya shifted her position on the floor and winced as she relieved her tailbone of pressure from her body weight. She sighed quietly, wishing she knew what time it was. There were no windows, no clocks, not even a guard outside her door to ask.

She wondered how many days she had been down here. One? Four? The date held no meaning, and the time of day had no purpose, other than to tell her when Mezmo would come with their next meal.

She looked at the shut and locked door. When was he coming, anyway?

She wasn't very hungry anyways. She could wait to eat. She shut her eyes and slowly fell asleep

* * *

Zane nearly let Cyrus fall. "Kai!" He exclaimed. He scooped Cyrus unceremoniously into his arms and ran to the door.

"No." Cole said, pushing the android back. "Let Lloyd and me go first. You have a disadvantage." He nodded to Cyrus, then grabbed Lloyd's hand and pulled him through the door.

"Put mE DoWN, ZanE." Cyrus tried to wiggle out of Zane's grasp. "YoU gO."

Zane looked at his brother, then the dark entrance Lloyd and Cole had just entered. His feet shuffled indecisively for a moment before he set down the twitching droid. "Don't follow us." He ordered, running after the others in the building.

Zane, expecting a loud and frenetic fighting scene, was surprised when he ran into Cole's back right as he entered the door. He fell over backwards, whereas the ninja of earth didn't even flinch.

Zane got to his feet and looked at his two companions. "What's wrong?" He exclaimed. "Where is Kai?" He stepped between Lloyd and Cole and gasped.

Kai was on the floor in the dimly illuminated room, unconscious with a knife pressed against his throat. Pythor stood above the prone fire ninja, flicking his tongue into the air with displeasure. "Stay where you are." He hissed.

"I said let me do the talking, you worm!" The Overlord's voice screamed. "I look forward to teaching you your place in just a few minutes."

Pythor trembled, the long blade shaking in his hands. He looked at the floor and flicked his tongue again.

Lloyd clenched his fists. "Overlord." He glared into the dark void above Kai's head. "Come out of the shadows so I can fight you." He put his hands on front of him and created an orb, illuminating the dark room slightly. "Unless you are a coward."

"I am no coward!" The deep, raspy voice filled the room and gripped their hearts like a vice.

Zane swallowed hard. This was it, then. This was how he would fulfill the prophesy. "Let Kai go." He said with all the courage he could find within him. He took a step forward. "Take me. You cannot hurt him." He looked at Kai with a tear in his eye. "I will not allow it."

Overlord laughed again. "I will do as I please. But it's not you that I want. It's your brother...Cyrus. He will become my new body."

Zane's heart felt like a hot spear had been thrust into his heart. "No!" He shouted. "He is not for you." His fingers trembled at his sides. The twitch slowly took over his hands, then his arms.

Cyrus suddenly entered the room. He was leaning heavily on anything he could find within his reach, his feet barely leaving the ground as he made his way to where his brother stood.

Cole heard his shuffling step and turned around, expecting an enemy. He took out his earth blade and nearly impaled the broken android with it. "Cyrus!" He hissed. "Stay back. This is not your fight." He put the blade away and grabbed Cyrus' arm, trying to pull him back toward the door.

Cyrus jerked his arm out of Cole's grasp and continued walking. "TOuCh mE aGAin anD I wilL sHOot youR haNd." He said firmly. He looked at his brother, then the snake looming over Kai. "I aM hEre, YoU MenAce." He shouted. "TelL yOur sNAke tO LeaVe hIm AloNe. I wiLl Do iT."

Zane turned around and gasped. "No!" He grabbed his brother's arm gently and helped him stand up straight. He choked on a lump the size of an egg in his throat. "Cyrus is broken, and cannot even stand by himself. You do not want him."

Cyrus let out a nervous laugh. "AnD yOu dO nOt WaNT ZAnE EiTHer. He iS Old AnD aNTiquatED."

Overlord was silent for a moment. "Antiquated?" He was rather annoyed by this show of brotherly love. Why wouldn't they let him finish his speech?

Cyrus nodded. "A alTErnAtE WoRd FoR OUtdatEd."

"I do not care what it means!" Overlord shouted. Pythor was shaking so hard Lloyd was afraid the knife would puncture Kai's skin accidentally.

Cole looked at his three brothers, of which were in danger of being destroyed, while Lloyd and himself were powerless to do anything. He felt a feeling he had not felt in years stir inside of his chest. Fear. Not just a normal fear that came in pressing circumstances, but a fear that rendered him unable to think or see clearly, and that frightened him more. It was a terror.

Cole took in a shaky breath. He was the ninja who, no matter what, kept his cool, even when Zane couldn't. He was the one who always had the plan. Who never went without a feeling of confidence in his every step.

And he was terrified.

He looked at the two droids before him, taking a stand to save their human brothers. The ultimate sacrifice, and they were fighting over who got to make it. Cole had never seen such courage in his life.

Overlord growled. "I know that Zane is older, but he is in better condition. I will not hobble around in this world like I did for two years in the world Between." There was a gut-wrenching pause, in which no one either breathed or moved. "Zane." He said slowly. "You will let me enter your body, or your fire ninja dies the same death as your father."

Zane's eyes contracted in surprise, then narrowed in anger. He took a step back and almost tripped. "You killed my father?" He whispered.

Pythor flicked a switch, which was conveniently right near his hand, and illuminated the room in a bright, fluorescent light.

Zane looked at the far wall in horror. "Father." He started to sink to his knees, but Cyrus somehow found the strength to keep him upright.

Zane wrapped his arms around his brother in a warm embrace for just a moment before he let go and put his brother on the floor.

"I will do it." He said softly. "Let Kai go."

Cole gasped. The prophesy. Overlord was going to take his brother, teammate and best friend away from him. And he was helpless to do anything but watch.

Cole's heart sunk into his stomach as he looked at Cyrus and realized he had an alternative. A terrible, unforgivable one, but alternative nonetheless. He steeled himself and swallowed hard, fighting back a tear. "No." He whispered, forcing at least a small fraction of his fear into nonexistence. He leaped over Cyrus and rammed into Zane's chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Cole!" Zane said, trying to kick the heavy ninja off of his legs. "Let me go!"

Cole grabbed Zane's arms and held them down with one hand. "No, Zane." He said firmly, though his insides felt like jelly.

"What are you doing?!" The Overlord screamed. "I will kill Kai! And you!"

Cole opened Zane's panel, keeping the ice ninja pressed to the ground with obvious difficulty. "I am cheating Destiny!" He shouted back. "You will not take any of my brothers from me!" He reached for a group of wires near Zane's heart, praying that Lloyd would do something about Pythor during the distraction he was creating.

"Cole!" Zane said, a wild look of panic in his eyes. "Don't-"

Cole jerked them out without allowing himself to think of the consequences.

Zane let out a shout and his body jerked. He clenched his fist and let out a moan. "PLeaSe StOp." His eyes shook as they looked into Cole's pleadingly. "It iS mY DeSTiny, CoLE. LeT mE sAve yOu."

Cole was blinded by tears as he shook his head. He began pulling things at random as the Overlord shouted obscenities at him.

Cyrus stayed back, knowing that if he did somehow stop Cole, then Zane would still become the Overlord's hostiam. He wanted to protect his brother at all costs, even if it meant doing potentially fatal damage to Zane's systems. He would not let Overlord abuse his brother's body.

Lloyd was unable to move. He stood in shock as he watched Cole pull Zane apart, jaw tense and fists clenched at his sides.

Cole looked at the damage he had done in horror and forced himself to continue. He grabbed a small white wire and pulled it, a pain filled scream escaping Zane's lips thereafter. Cole's chest heaved as he continued his terrible duty, making his brother unfit for the Overlord's possession.

Zane let out another cry as Cole took out his circuit board and broke it in two. Cole threw the pieces to the floor and went for a small wire in his heart. His fingers touched the blue glowing ring and it suddenly flashed so brightly he had dark spots in his vision for a few minutes afterward.

The cyan colored flash expanded and Cole flew backward onto his face next to a shelf of tools from the blast.

Zane let out a scream so loud and full of pain that Cole's heart nearly stopped. The scream was cut short suddenly after several terrible seconds, and Zane went limp and completely still. The heaving and trembling stopped all at once as his systems finally crashed, leaving Zane in a grotesque pose on the ground, his mouth and eyes open in his final cry of pain.

Cole shook his head. He couldn't do it anymore. He had done too much damage to ever forgive himself. He got off of his stomach and onto his knees. He buried his head in his hands and began sobbing.

"Kill him!" Overlord shouted to Pythor. "Kill them all!"

"No!" Lloyd screamed. He shot his glowing orb at Pythor, and the purple snake just barely got out of the way before the green light hit the wall where Pythor's insides would have splattered, if the snake had been but a second slower.

Lloyd ran toward Kai and picked him up before the Anacondrai general even knew what was going on. He hugged Kai tightly to his chest and looked at Cole. "Get up!" He shouted. "Get Zane out of here!" He ran out the door.

Cole looked up at his brother, who lay on the ground mere feet from where he knelt. "Zane." He whispered, tentatively touching the android's still and icy cold hand. "I'm so sorry." His vision blurred with tears.

He saw a purple blob in his peripheral vision advance toward him. He blinked and wiped his face on his sleeve. It was Pythor.

Cole jumped to his feet and looked at the snake in the eyes as it stopped a few feet from his face. "You!" He shouted. "Get out, coward!" He charged Pythor, hoping to land a punch on his grinning face.

The snake held his ground as Cole wound up for the blow. Pythor suddenly laughed and whipped out a knife, throwing it into the assailing ninja's chest with a thud that made Cyrus cry out with alarm.

Cole let out a gasp as the cold steel went through his skin, and the point exited the other side of his body.

"No one calls me a coward." Pythor hissed, pulling the knife loose and tossing it viciously to the floor with a loud clatter.

Cole fell to his knees, gripping the gap in his shoulder with his right hand, mouth agape. It was a pain like he had never felt before in his life, and the terror in his heart increased sevenfold.

He glared at the snake, which towered above him with that ridiculous, toothy grin. "I always did hate snakes." He hissed, fingers drowning in blood. The world whirled out of focus.

"Cole!" Lloyd's voice shouted behind him.

Cole didn't answer. It was all he could do to make sure that he didn't drop flat on his face when he rolled off of his knees and landed on his left side. He let out a cry of pain as his full weight landed on the injured side of his chest, and he lay unmoving on the floor in a growing pool of blood.

Pythor reached down to grab his knife again and deal the death blow.

"StOp!" Cyrus shouted, making the snake hesitate. "PleAsE CeAse. ThiS hAS gONe tOO FAr." He pointed at Lloyd, who had just stepped into the doorway, shakily. "He WiLl FiX mE."

Lloyd's heart sunk into his stomach as he watched Pythor lift the knife. "I'll do it." He said. "I will fix Cyrus. Just..." His vision blurred from the tears. "Just don't hurt Cole anymore." He strode through the doorway and stopped a few paces in.

"GoOd MAn." Cyrus smiled weakly. "YOu ARe a BraVE HeRO."

Lloyd strongly disagreed. He was full of terror and certainly felt like no hero. He looked at Pythor, who held the bloodied knife impatiently in his scaly hand. "Do you accept?"

Overlord laughed. It was a laugh that shook the room, sending chills down Lloyd and Pythor's backs. "I accept." There was a pause. "Put down the knife, Pythor."

The snake nodded and sheathed it quickly, even though it was still filthy from Cole's blood.

Lloyd ran to Cyrus' side and scooped him into his arms. "Where do we begin?" He said shakily, stepping over Zane's body to get to the table, where he set Cyrus down and opened the panel.

Cyrus pointed to a shelf. "ZanE FiXed evERytHinG bUt MY MaiN cOnTRoL PAnEl, WHicH hoLDs mY vOiCe And MotoR cOorDinATioN. SeCoNd DrawEr."

Lloyd nodded and carefully stepped over Zane's body again to find what Cyrus wanted. He forced himself to look at Zane's body as he stepped over it. Was he dead? He noticed a pulsing glow eminate from the part that threw Cole backwards. He found hope in the slow, steady pulse and opened the second drawer as directed.

The bin was filled with a few different sizes of small green circuit boards. He selected one of each and went back to Cyrus. He held them up in both hands. "Which is it?" He asked.

Cyrus pointed to a symmetrically square one and coughed. "ThAT OnE. JuSt PuT iT In itS iNdenTeD ArEa iN mY aBdoMinAl sEcTiOn."

"The fix was that easy?" The Overlord shouted. "And I went through all of this thing with Zane for what?! I should have just made you fix him in the first place. It would have saved me the trouble of watching you two brothers bicker until that earth ninja foolishly killed the old one."

Lloyd bit his lip and refrained from retorting with a comment full of spite and hate. He discarded the unneeded flat plates and held the one Cyrus had selected tightly in his hand. He found the indent Cyrus spoke of and pushed it into place with a sigh. "What's next?"

"Those wires need to get plugged into the holes." Cyrus said in a voice not unlike his old one before the fall during the blizzard, but slightly higher pitched. He sat up slowly and shakily. "I can do that now." He fumbled around in his cavity until he found all the loose wires. He then plugged them all in one at a time.

Lloyd noticed that Cyrus trembled and shook a little less with each plug. The first one stopped his right hand's tremble. The next his left. After a few more, his entire body was once again sound and complete. He let out a sigh and fiddled with a few more wires. Lloyd assumed he was making adjustments.

Cyrus shut his panel and hopped down from the table. "Thank you, Lloyd." He said, putting his hand on the golden ninja's shoulder. There were still tears in the robots's eyes as he spoke. "And farewell. Do not hesitate to strike me when the time comes. Have courage." He smiled encouragingly. "Good luck."

Lloyd's shoulder found Cyrus'. "Thank you, brother." He sniffed. "Your courage will be remembered for years to come." He took his arm off the android's shoulder and let it hang limply at his side.

Cyrus nodded and his arm slid off of Lloyd's shoulder. He strode toward where Cole was, still unconscious in the growing pool of blood. "I will let you enter me after my brothers are a safe distance away." He said authoritatively.

There was a pause as the Overlord considered this. "I would just enter you now and kill them all," he said at last. "But that is not how this works, as you seem to already know. I cannot enter your body without your permission. You need to open that door for me. So I have no choice, I suppose. But I will not hesitate to kill your brothers...with your own hands...after you let me in."

Cyrus nodded. "Agreed." He looked at Lloyd again. "Get out fast, and don't look back. I am sure we will meet again."

Lloyd nodded and reached down to his feet, where Zane lay. He shut the panel carefully and scooped the broken robot into his arms. He ran out to where the dragon was waiting with the still unconscious Kai on its back. He set Zane down and went back for Cole.

Cyrus, Pythor, and the invisible Overlord hasn't moved. They stood waiting for Lloyd to take Cole's bleeding form and leave.

Lloyd looked at Cyrus, who had an unreadable expression on his face, and smiled weakly.

He gently rolled Cole over onto his side and bit his lip. Cole's face was so pale, the pallor could be likened to eggshell. And he was coated in blood from the floor and, ultimately, the oozing wound between his shoulder and chest.

Lloyd gently lifted Cole into his arms and turned toward the door. Without looking back, he jumped onto the dragon and sat down at the reins. He swallowed and cleared his throat, noting the steady trickle of blood that ran down Cole's arm with a feeling of nausea rising in the pit of his stomach.

"Kai, wake up." He shouted, his voice cracking. He reached over and rapped the ninja's head.

Kai sat upright with a start. He rubbed his head. "What happened?" He blinked. He saw Cole and gasped. "Lloyd what-"

"You got knocked on the head and passed out. Just hold onto Zane tightly. We need to get out of here fast."

Kai frowned deeply. "If I passed out, why didn't you wake me up? You look like you've bitten off more than you can chew."

Lloyd glared at Kai. "I did try. I was slapping you upside the face as soon as I got you out into the open. You just weren't ready to wake up until just now."

Kai nodded, his face looking almost as pale as Cole's. "Sorry."He hugged the limp robot close to his chest and a hard look crossed his face. "Let's get them to the Bounty." He said shakily.

Lloyd shook the reins with his free, albeit bloody hand, and the dragon lifted into the air.

As soon as they were airborne, a gut-wrenching screaming noise filled the air, making Kai's eyes widen with alarm. He looked at Lloyd's face, and decided that now would not be the best time to ask questions.

The golden ninja's eyes were filled with silent tears, which made Kai question who it was that should have been guiding the dragon into the clouds above them, to where the ship, the Garmadons, and Pixal awaited.

Lloyd gripped Cole tighter to his chest and prayed that Pixal would not drop dead when she heard about what happened to her brothers.

And that they would be able to save Cole before he died from blood loss.

* * *

Nya awoke to a sound outside the door. She didn't open her eyes, as she could tell that the torch had gone out anyways, and there would be nothing to see but grey silhouettes.

She relaxed against the wall again and let out a deep breath, pretending to be asleep. That's what she wanted to be, anyways. She wasn't hungry. She thought that maybe, if she pretended to be asleep, Jay would eat all the food. He needed it, and refused to eat it all when she was awake enough to eat it herself. She started taking deep, rhythmic breaths to feign sleeping as the door opened and a soft light filled the room.

Mezmo shut the door behind him and replaced the dead torch on the wall. He looked at the two sleeping forms on opposite sides of the room, a little puzzled. Why would they insist on sharing a cell if they were just going to stay as far from each other as possible, anyways?

He considered just leaving the bowl of food in the room and leaving when Jay suddenly sat up with alarm and let out a gasp.

"Easssy, Jay. Just me." Mezmo said, setting down the bowl on his lap. "I've brought lunch. Looks like it's all yours today. Nya isss asleep."

Jayet out a sigh of relief. "Good. I'm starving. Thanks..." He paused a moment. "What's your name again?"

"Mezmo." The snake repeated for the hundredth time since he woke up from the coma yesterday.

Jay snapped his fingers. "Thank you. Mezmo." He began eating heartily.

Mezmo sat down next to Jay casually. "Ssso." He began. "How did you meet your friend, Nya?" He asked pleasantly.

Jay paused a moment. "She is the sister of one of my teammates. We met because she got kidnapped by Garmadon's skeleton army about five years ago, and her brother began training with us to save her." He dug into the bowl of fruit and insects. It was good food today. The smuggled stuff, not any of that disgusting prisoner's food.

Mezmo nodded slowly. "I see." He watched the human eat. How did they get so hungry? Mezmo could go for days without a hunger pain. Humans were so strange.

He clasped his scaly fingers together. "When did you develop affections for her?"

Jay scowled deeply at him. "I'm not telling you. You are a snake. I don't tell snakes anything. Let alone stuff about my girl."

Mezmo rolled his eyes, realizing that Jay's memory must be getting a bit rocky again. "I'm your friend, ally, and the only way of getting you out of here. Remember?"

Jay snapped his fingers again. "My apologies. What was your question? Ummm...how I developed my affections for her, correct?"

Mezmo nodded patiently.

Jay looked thoughtful for a moment, stuffing more food I to his mouth and chewing slowly. He swallowed and began. "I...I don't know. It just sorta formed. Around the time we started fighting you guys, I guess." He laughed. "You know, for our first date, I took her to Megamonster Amusement Park. I had gotten cut by a Fangpyre skeleton's fang earlier that day." He laughed louder, forgetting that Nya was resting on the floor. "So I tried to hide it the entire date. I started growing a tail halfway through."

Mezmo let out a hissing laugh. "I remember that. We were there looking for the fang blade."

Jay nodded. "I was an idiot. I thought the way to win her was by being good at stuff. By impressing her. But the whole time, she just wanted me to be...me." He sighed. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong now, though. Our relationship is going downhill fast, and I can't stop it's momentum." A tear formed in his eye. "I...I would not be happy if she left me, but..." He set down the bowl on the floor by his feet with a sigh. "I just want what's best for her, you know? She has been extra touchy and sensitive lately, and I'm concerned for her. She seems like she's carrying a big weight around on her shoulder, and won't share it with anyone. I've tried to get her to talk to me, but she just gives me that...that fake smile, sorta half-shut squint of annoyance, and crosses her arm on her chest, and then tells me she's fine. I've been an open book with her. She know all of my secrets, even my most embarrassing childhood moments. I trust her to keep them. But Nya..." He looked at her sleeping form on the floor. "It's like she can't trust me. Like...she's afraid to tell me what's really going on in her heart. I don't understand it." He sniffed lightly. "I don't think she's happy with me. And more than anything, I want her happy." He looked at Mezmo's face sadly. "I think I'm going to let her go." He said after a long pause. "She needs to be unattached for a while and clear her mind. I think I'm driving her crazy with my attitude. I've decided that I'm going to be honest with her. If she doesn't like the way I treat her, then I'm not going to change for her. 'Cuz I can't change. She says she likes me best when I'm me. And if she decides she doesn't like 'me' best any more, I'll let her go." He paused again. "No more lies. I'll be honest, them she can either be honest and open up, or close up tighter and leave me. Her decision." He sighed. "Because I love her, I'll let her go."

Mezmo smiled sadly. "You are a good man, Jay." He hissed. He stood up and slapped Jay's shoulder. "I wish you nothhhing but the best." He grabbed the burnt-out torch from where he had dropped it on the floor. "Tell Nya when she wakesss up that were almost ready for the attack. I'll probably be ready for you to come up and help fight within an hour."

Jay beamed. "Great. Do we have weapons?"

Mezmo nodded. "Yesss. I will give you two swords when I come back." He shut the door behind him and left.

Jay decided to wake up Nya and tell her right away. He was beginning to sense that his memory was not to be trusted, and was afraid that he would forget it if he waited.

He jumped off of the bed and went to Nya's side. He got on his knees and paused when he saw her face. "Nya, are you awake?" He asked tenderly, grabbing her warm hand with his icy cold one. He touched her face gently, wiping away some tears. "You okay?"

Nya opened her eyes slowly and shook her head. "No." She whispered. "I'm not okay."

Jay's eyes widened in alarm. "Are you hurt? What's wrong?" He scooped her into his arms and took a stood up. "Where does it hurt?" He looked into her eyes with genuine concern.

Nya opened her mouth to speak, but ended up crying when she did. Silent tears tore across her cheeks as she buried her head in her hands and refrained from making loud noises as she cried.

Jay looked down at the girl in his arms and paused mid-step. He pondered what he was supposed to do.

He finally just sat down on the bed and held her tightly, rocking back and forth gently with Nya still nestled on his lap and in his arms.

Nya wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shirt, wetting it with her tears. Jay rested his chin on her head gently and stroked her hair with slow, methodical movements.

He felt like crying himself. The weight of their current situation weighed heavily on the both of them, and Jay felt a great amount of responsibility, as it was his duty to keep her safe while they were here. He realized that, in truth, their chances of seeing their friends again were a little slim. Their chances of surviving tomorrow's battle were even slimmer.

They were holding on to a hope that a single snake could somehow convert an entire snake colony. A colony of thousands.

Something snapped inside Jay's chest with a resonating thud. He had to keep her safe. And there was only one way for him to do that right now. She was going to have to stay down here, while he fought for her freedom.

A tear slid down his cheek as his hand fell from her hair. He slowly wrapped his arm around her back. His body trembled with every breath as he forced himself to keep it together. He needed to stay strong for her.

Nya released her grip on the back of his neck and put her hands on his chest. "I'm so sorry, Jay." She whispered.

Jay blinked. Was he forgetting something again? He wasn't sure.

"It's okay." He said back, kissing her forehead gently. He honestly had no clue why she was apologizing for, but went with the flow. She needed him to listen, not talk.

"I've been a real jerk to you lately." Nya said, hiccuping a little bit. "You're right. I haven't been honest. Or even remotely nice. And I'm so, so sorry."

It clicked in Jay's head. "You heard me talking to Mez?"

Nya nodded, her face rubbing on his shirt as she moved.

Jay sighed. "You sneak." He smiled and embraced her a little tighter around the shoulders. "I forgive you." He took a deep breath. "And...I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been picking on you earlier."

Nya squeezed her eyes shut and balled her fists on his chest, unintentionally getting a fistful of his shirt. Neither of them noticed. "You don't have anything to apologize for, Jay." She said. "I was egging you on."

Jay rolled his eyes. If she wanted the blame, he wasn't going to take it from her.

"Please." Nya whispered. "Don't let me go." She sniffed loudly. "D-on't make me let you go." She let go of his shirt and wrapped her arms around his torso, finally allowing herself to truly sob.

Jay's heart nearly stopped. He smiled and let out a choked sigh of relief. "I won't let you go, Nya." His tears fell silently into her hair. "As long as you'll have me, I'll be here for you."

* * *

**Yaaay! Jaya fluff! tell me if you like it. **

**And what did you think about the first Overlord battle? I'm pretty excited. There's more where that came from...Mwahaha.**

**Sweet dreams. :) **

**I'd like to thank my loyal readers and reviewers. I really appreciate the support. :)**

**I'm actually working on the final 1-2 chapters at this ****moment (the entire story will be about 21chapters long, and I'm on chapter 19)**

**The reason I'm keeping you guys on this super **_slow_ **update ****sheduel is I need time to edit things and make sure I've got no plot holes before I do post. Why update fast if it's only going to flow as choppy as the first three chapters did? (and yes, I'm going to fix that soon.)**

**And so... I'm looking for an idea for a new story. Leave an idea in the comments, as well as telling me what you enjoy most in my writing. it gives me ideas for the future, and helps me see what you want more of. **


	12. Wars And Wounds

******Just cuz I'm nice, I'm giving you a bonus chapter! Yaaay! **

**More of what you read in the last chapter, fluff and gore. My apologies if I am a little to...descriptive with the 'Cole scene'...Mwahaha... **

* * *

Mezmo opened the cell door and stepped inside, holding the bundle of smuggled weapons at his side. He stopped short at the scene in front of him.

Jay was sitting upright on the bed with Nya asleep in his arms and he gently rocked back and forth on his tailbone. He looked at Mezmo with alarm and set Nya down on the bed, where she shot upright suddenly with her mouth agape.

"Stay back, Nya!" Jay shouted. He jumped to his feet and charged the bewildered snake. "He has weapons!"

Nya jumped to her feet and grabbed Jay's shirt right before he could hit the Hypnobrai. "Stop, Jay!" She exclaimed. "It's Mezmo!" She let out a cry of alarm as Jay whirled around and pushed her back onto the bed.

"I don't care what his name is." He growled. "Stay behind me. I don't want him to hurt you."

Nya grabbed his shirt and pulled him so close they were nose to nose. She glared into his fiery eyes. "Calm down, Jay. He won't hurt you." She said firmly.

The closeness of their faces made Jay stop fighting her for a moment as he tried to figure out what exactly Nya was trying to do to him.

He pulled himself away from her and sighed deeply. He turned and looked at Mezmo. "My apologies. I've done it again, huh?" He gestured for Mezmo to step inside. "I assume you are here with my sword?"

Mezmo nodded, unrolling the bundle. "And Nya'sss."

Jay shook his head firmly, taking one sword and rolling up the other. "Nya isn't fighting." He stated.

Nya's mouth opened wide in objection. "I most certainly am. You never said I was going to stay behind. I'm not leaving you again, you're still sick." She reached for the sword.

Jay pushed it out of her reach and shook his head again. "No. I don't want you to get hurt. I'll win the battle, then come back for you. Swords haven't ever been your strongest weapon anyway." His eyes looked into hers intently, trying to make sure his message got through her thick skull. "I love you too much to lose you because of a snake who had the immense luck of a direct swing with its weapon. I know you are strong, but it would be one girl against hundreds of snakes. I won't be able to protect you out there." He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. "I will come back for you. I promise."

Nya looked into his eyes, which were twinkling with tears like a deep blue sky full of stars. A vast universe, one that made Nya never want to look away. She eventually pulled him into an embrace and let her own tears fall silently. "I love you, Jay." She whispered softly.

Jay wrapped his arms around her and embraced her tightly. "I love you more." He kissed her cheek gently. "I promised I would come back. Now promise me you'll stay here and wait for my return." He sniffed lightly as the tears hit her hair. "Prove that you trust me."

Nya nodded and reluctantly let him go. She went back to the bed and sat down. "I'll wait for you." She said.

Jay smiled encouragingly and nodded to Mezmo. "I'm ready." He looked at Nya again, wiping his face dry with the back of his hand. "I love you, Nya." He steeled his expression and turned to leave. He looked at Mezmo. "Who else had keys to these cells?"

"Jussst me and Scales."

Jay nodded. "Leave that sword here, then. Just in case she needs to defend herself." And with that, he left the room, looking back at Nya one last time before Mezmo shut the door and locked it, separating them for what Nya and Jay both knew would feel like an eternity.

* * *

The pain-infused and terrifying scream from Cyrus' mouth continued for several seconds, each one ticking by like an hour in Kai's head. The silence that followed was even worse.

Kai looked at Zane, who lay limp in his arms, and then at Cole, pale and half-dead in Lloyd's. His fingers trembled as he forced himself to keep his fire powers under control. He did not want to burn Zane.

His fingers shook and his breathing came fast as he tried to keep from screaming like the android on the ground a hundred feet below them as he unwillingly ran through all that they had lost in his mind.

Zane. Who knew what kind off internal damage had been ? A wound that barely missed puncturing his heart. Cyrus? He could only assume it was him that screamed down below them on the ground. He swallowed hard. Jay? Kidnapped by snakes, half hypothermic, according to Zane's last account.

His eyes filled with tears. Nya. His dear sister, also kidnapped by snakes, and most likely in Ourobourus, being tortured by the terrible snake king, Scales, while he was powerless to do anything but think about it.

The Bounty came into view through the thick layer of clouds, and the dragon lowered its tail like a ramp over the deck.

Kai carefully cradled Zane's body in both his hands and slid down the steep decline of the tail. He planted both feet on the deck and ran into the dining room, where the three elders and Pixal were eating lunch.

They all looked up at once and opened their mouths in alarm, and Pixal fainted after a few seconds.

"Kai!" Misako exclaimed. Then she looked over Kai's shoulder, and her hands found her husband's arm and her mouth. "Lloyd!" She jumped to her feet. "What happened?" She quickly cleared the table, allowing her son to put down the injured ninja of earth on its surface.

Kai set Zane on the floor gently, not able to comprehend the amount of pain that registered on the android's frozen face. He quickly shut Zane's eyes and closed his jaw, making him a little less nightmare-worthy.

"Kai, get Pixal out of here." Garmadon ordered.

Kai nodded and picked up the unconscious girl. He took her to her room and set her on the bed.

She shot upright the moment her head hit the pillow. "Kai." She said, pale faced and trembling. "What happened to my brothers?"

Kai hesitated a moment and swallowed as he took a step backwards toward the door. "I don't know. Just stay in here. I'll come and get you when it's over."

Pixal nodded and stayed put on the bed as Kai left the room.

He ran back to the dining room, purposely ignoring Cole and the blood. He felt that he couldn't handle that right now, and that he needed to focus on Zane.

He sat down next to the droid and opened the panel with a groan. It was a mess inside.

Cyrus had merely been disassembled. Zane had been ripped apart, with frayed wires and missing pieces. He couldn't do anything without replacement parts, most likely found in Doctor Julien's workshop, which he didn't dare even consider going to right now, in case the Overlord was still in the building.

"Who did this?" He asked. He received no answer, as the others were busy with Cole.

He pushed a button in the center of Zane's heart and opened the tiny, synchronized panels to reveal the blue and pulsing ring of light.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember what Zane had said about the mechanical heart.

To show Kai what a healthy robotical heart looked like, Zane had opened his panel and compared his color to Cyrus'. Zane's heart had been a strong blue color, slightly darker than the sky. Cyrus' had been brighter, coming across a little more icy blue.

"You see, Kai." Zane had said. "Our hearts function like your do, in a way. They pulse steadily, generating power. The harder we work, the more power we need. So the heart's light will pulse faster, generating more energy until we rest. Then the pulse slows down again, and returns to normal. And it slows down when we sleep, simply because we do not need the energy. But the heart is always beating. The problem, Kai, arises when when the android is broken." Zane had pointed to Cyrus. "The power has nowhere to go, because the robot is deactivated. So the heart slows itself considerably, slowing the power generation process, but not stopping it. There are only two options available when a droid is broken, but the heart is still beating." Zane held up a finger. "Your first option is to fix him or her as fast as you can, getting the energy output back to normal again." He held up another finger. "Second option: Get the droid as far away as possible, because it only takes about twelve hours for the heart to run out of space to put all of its power, and it will explode, decimating everything within fifty yards of the droid's body." He pointed out the colors. "The brighter this ring is, the more power the droid has. Mine is normal. Cyrus is getting to be a little dangerous. Once it reaches white, you have to just drop everything and run. Because there's nothing else that can be done at that point, but pray you get away in time."

Kai opened his eyes and looked at Zane's heart. It beat about once every two seconds, and still had a fairly normal coloration. Zane had time.

He looked at Cole. Cole did not have time. He jumped to his feet. "What can I do to help?" He swallowed a mouthful of vomit that rose into his mouth with a shudder as he looked at the scene.

Garmadon was pulling off Cole's bloodstained shirt, revealing his small but ugly chest wound that released a steady stream of red liquid. Lloyd looked faint.

Misako looked at Kai. "Get the medical kit out of the kitchen." She looked over at Lloyd and grabbed his arm, saving him from a fall. "Son, go and get towels. As many as you can find."

Lloyd swallowed and nodded, turning quickly and leaving the room with relief.

Kai ran and did what he was told, and was back in under a minute. He opened the large box up on the far side of the table, as to avoid the pool of blood that threatened to dominate the surface. "What do you need?"

Sensei grabbed a large unlabeled bottle. "Just this for now." He ran to Garmadon and gave it to him.

Garmadon took it from his brother and unscrewed the cap. "Hold him down," he addressed Kai. "He is unconscious, but he may still fight us in his sleep. We need to keep him still."

Kai nodded and grabbed Cole's right shoulder. His other hand hesitated before it could reach Cole's left side. He wasn't certain of where to grab him.

He felt a hand grab his and looked up. Misako set his shaking palm just above Cole's elbow. "Hold him here." She said firmly.

Kai looked at her hardened face, wondering how she managed to stay so calm. He nodded shakily and moved his other hand to the same area of Cole's other bloody arm.

Garmadon slowly poured the contents of the bottle into the open wound. Kai started seeing double. Was the liquid running out Cole's back?

Cole suddenly shouted and lashed out in his sleep, jerking his right arm out of Kai's grasp and gripping his bloody shoulder, knocking the bottle out of Garmadon's grasp and onto the floor.

"Hold him down!" Garmadon shouted, picking up the bottle again.

Kai grabbed the arm and threw his weight into it, forcing it back onto the table with a thud.

Cole's chest heaved and his head shook back and forth, his screams diminishing to a low wailing.

Kai felt his heartbeat in his chest. He blinked away another wave of black spots in his vision.

Lloyd suddenly appeared with the towels. "Where do you want them?" He asked.

Sensei took the load of towels. "Go and take Kai's place. You are stronger than him."

Lloyd nodded, and Kai backed out of the way. Lloyd grabbed Cole's arms and pressed them to the table firmly.

Cole was forced to stop squirming, and simply lay still, his chest moving up and down rapidly, face coated in blood and sweat.

Misako looked into the wound. "I need thread." She ordered. Garmadon screwed the lid onto the bottle and went for the sterile thread in the kit.

"Shouldn't we take him to the hospital?" Lloyd asked, his head spinning from the sight of all the blood.

"No." Garmadon replied. "Their methods work just as well as ours."

Misako sighed. "He's bleeding too much. I can't see where I need to stitch." She looked at Kai. "I need you to cauterize to wound."

Kai nodded and took her place at the table. He heated up his fingers and hesitated again as he looked over Cole's chest.

The wound was small, no more than a tiny slit in his shoulder, like a oversized paper cut, but Kai could tell that it was a lot more serious than it looked. He took a deep breath and tentatively pushed his hot fingers into the small hole.

Cole screamed again, a sound louder and more filled with agony than the first one. Even Lloyd was having trouble keeping him still as the black garbed ninja fought against the strong grip on his arms.

Kai carefully ran his finger around the inside of the wound, effectively stopping the flow of blood. "Did the knife hit anything vital?" He asked, drawing his hand out of the hole and cooling it down. "His heart, perhaps?"

Garmadon shook his head. "If it did, he'd be dead already. It only pierced his skin and muscle. He should be fine, if we can close it in time." He grabbed a towel from Wu's arms and began wiping Cole's chest clean. "Unless he's already lost too much blood. I can't tell you for certain if he'll make it at this point, because I don't know how much blood he lost while you were still on the ground." He leaned in to examine the now bloodless wound, and barely avoided getting a few teeth knocked out by Cole's forehead as the injured ninja tried to sit up in a final attempt to fight them off.

He took a step back and sighed. "Misako, get me the pain killing shot. He needs it."

Misako reached into the box and pulled out a tiny bottle, a sharp needle, and a syringe.

Garmadon quickly loaded up the tool and jabbed it into Cole's arm. The wounded ninja almost immediately went limp. Cole let out an involuntary sigh of relief and his breathing slowed as he went into an even deeper sleep than before.

Garmadon whistled. "That stuff is powerful."

"When given to him in triple doses," Misako said with a sigh. "You should have read the directions."

Garmadon winced and let out a light hiss through his teeth. "Whoops."

* * *

Scales looked around the table, at the three generals who stood by him, as they argued over their next move.

"I say we do it now!" Scales said angrily. "Thisss has been our plan for daysss now, and then suddenly you want to change it?" He glared at

Acidicus. "I see no reason why we should wait another hour to make the call. Letsss get those ninja here now. This isss my final word."

The three generals bowed low. "Yes sir." They all said in unison. They righted themselves and Acidicus gave Scalidor a look and shrug.

Scales caught it and fumed. "What is going on?!" He shouted. "I demand to know why everyone has been acting ssso strange today."

The Venomari and Constrictai leaders bolted for the door and blew their horns loudly, before the snake king could react.

A louder clamor followed. Scales narrowed his eyes at the two horn bearing generals as Fangtom sided with Scales. "I should have known." He drew his own horn from his belt. "When my tribe and the Fangpyres defeat you, I shall not show mercy on you two if you sssurvive!" He ran up a flight of stair and onto the roof, Fangtom right behind him.

Scales and the Fangpyre general looked over the edge and surveyed the scene below them.

Mezmo and his prisoner, the ninja who had looked near death last he saw him, were leading the army of Constrictai and Venomari snakes.

Scales let out a low hiss. One of the Hypnobrai was leading a group of rebels against him. And the two tribes followed. Scales never thought he would see the day when a mere soldier would leave his own tribe to lead another, nor the day when the tribes would agree to follow a ninja.

He blew the horn in his hand, calling the Hypnobrai to arms.

He noted that his female prisoner was not in the enemy ranks. Why? He pondered this a moment. He looked at the blue ninja and Mezmo, standing in the front lines and waiting for their opponent to make a move.

Fangtom blew his horn as well, calling to attention his subjects.

The entire Hypnobrai and Fangpyre tribes, Mezmo excluded, lined up in formation in front of the building their leaders stood on top of.

"Fight them!" Scales ordered. "The Constrictai and Venomari mussst pay for daring to betray their allegiance to me!" He let out a short hiss. "Kill them all!"

The red and blue snakes responded immediately, letting out a war cry and charging the oncoming enemy.

Scales tapped Fangtom on the arm with his staff. "Let's get down there." He said, moving toward the stairs. "I would like to deal a few blows myssself."

* * *

Jay breathed deeply, trying to calm the pounding sensation in his chest like Zane had taught him years ago in the monastery. It wasn't working.

He watched as Scales gave his speech from a distant rooftop, then shouted something that sounded like 'kill ham.' Which didn't make much sense, since ham was already dead. He figured he was just hearing the snake king wrong. His ears were ringing so loudly, it was hard to tell what anyone was saying from a distance.

The enemy snakes advanced towards them.

"You ready for thisss, Jay?" Mezmo said, wielding a flail and long dagger.

Jay nodded. "I am, brother." He finally decided to adopt the term. "I am ready as I'll ever be." He sighed. "Feel free to snap me back to reality if my mind goes blank again. Though I'm hoping it won't happen."

Mezmo nodded back. "I will...brother." He smiled encouragingly at Jay and his hand shot forward as the two armies collided, a resonating sound of battle cries, weapons clashing, and horrible wails as snake after snake fell to the ground, wounded or dead.

Jay used his sword and swung back and forth, doing a deadly dance with each opponent as they came.

He mentally went through Kai's list of moves in his head and applied them. "Thrust. Dodge. Parry. Thrust again." He jumped a blade and did a pirouette, going to his spinjitsu for more effective attacks. He grabbed a few more snakes in the tornado and threw them to the ground with a thud.

"Agh!" He stopped spinning and grimaced. He glared at the Fangpyre that had just tossed its knife into his thigh. He pulled it out of his leg and threw it back, hitting the white snake's chest. His fingers just reached the wound to examine it when he saw Mezmo about ten feet away, batting a Fangpyre soldier who was wielding a sword.

Mezmo suddenly fell to the ground, helpless to do anything but watch the blade rise above his head.

"Mez!" Jay exclaimed. He ran straight for the unsuspecting Fangpyre, forcing himself to ignore the limp. He thrust his sword through its side with a shout. The snake fell to the ground, and Jay helped the shaken Hypnobrai to his feet. "You okay?" He asked, blocking another blade that came from his right. He grabbed the dagger and handed it back to his friend. The flail was missing.

Mezmo took the blade and nodded. "Thanksss." He jumped to the side and tossed the dagger into a Hypnobrai's chest. He then ran to the body and grabbed its sword and retrieved his knife. He swung the sword in a circle in his hand skillfully as he ran back to Jay. "Ssshould have chosen one of these to begin with!" He exclaimed with a smile. "Look out!" He thrust the sword into another snake as it wound up for a blow on Jay's back.

Jay whirled around and saw the enemy sink to the ground. He looked up at Mezmo. "We should stay back to back." He suggested.

Mezmo nodded. "I agree. I-" He didn't have time to finish. He thrust the sword into another opponent.

Jay mumbled to himself again, going through the fencing terms that Kai had drilled into his memory. "Parry. Dodge. Thrust again." He did this countless times, becoming weaker and weaker as the blood poured out of the wounded leg.

The number of enemy snakes standing slowly diminished as the two sides dealt blows mercilessly.

He looked about him, searching for another blue or red snake to fight as he panted for breath in the scorching heat. He looked behind him and found a blue snake.

The Hypnobrai was almost touching his back, and seemed to be paying little attention to the ninja.

Jay let out a shout and swung his sword. The snake turned and let out a yelp, dodging the blade.

"Jay!" The snake exclaimed. "Not now! Come on, brother." He let out another yelp as he jumped back, avoiding a blade in the stomach. "It's me! Mezmo!"

Jay blinked, wondering why this snake knew his name, and called him brother. He stopped fighting, but held his blade at the ready in a blocking position.

The snake got a wild look in his eyes. "Turn around!" He pointed over Jay's shoulder.

Jay raised an eyebrow. Was it a ruse? The snake looked sincerely scared.

Then a horn blew a long, loud and clear note.

"Fall back!" Scales shouted from somewhere behind him. All the fighting stopped as the Hypnobrai and Fangpyre fell back and lined up breathlessly behind their leader.

Jay turned around and looked at the defeated army, curiosity getting the better of him. He gasped, sword falling into the sand with a thump. "Nya!"

* * *

**Epic cliffhangers. gotta love them, right? **

**Please review, give me ideas for the future, leave your guesses for what you think will happen next, etc, etc. **

**And tell me what your favorite part is so far, and what you'd like to see more of in the future! **


	13. Do Brothers Truly Forgive?

**Okay. I'm calming down a bit, there'll be more talking, less action for a while. You guys need break from all that stuff of the past two chapters. I'm going to call the next few chapters 'the calm before the storm.' **

**Just a random fact: I have gotten MANY Jaya supporters, and ZERO Nycole supporters. ? What's funny is, I had just gotten done reading a particularly sad and frustrating book. (don't you hate it when they don't pair the guy and the girl at the end of books when its ****heavily implied that they like each other?) Anyways, I was in the **_middle_ **of feeling angry about it, and was banging the book on the desk when I got an email saying that...get this...I have a Zaya supporter! That made me instantly forget any urges I **_may_** have had to burn the dratted book I was residing, and I went to bed happy. Moral of the story? Reviews save books. That dratted book wants to thank my Zaya supporter. (I was not really going to burn it, LOL.) But you saved it a few page creases. **

**And I am glad I gave you guys an extra chapter on Monday. That was one of my biggest cliffhangers ever, and would be torture to make you wait another couple days for the next chapter. **

**And if this first section is a bit confusing...my ****apologies! I tried to write it in a way that made sense, although it may be a bit puzzling to some of you. Just to clear a few things up in advance: The first section is a dream taking place while Cole's wound is getting treated. **

**Second thing: I do **_not_** ship Cole and Zane. Any time in this story that you seem to see that happening, its all in your head. **

**Okay, I'm done rambling. Please review! :D**

* * *

"Stop!" Zane screamed, watching in horror as Cole opened up his panel and began pulling out components.

The Nindroid let out a scream as Cole touched his heart.

Cole shook uncontrollably as the impact from Zane's heart threw him to the ground. He turned over and onto his back and let out an exclamation of surprise as Zane was suddenly on top of him, a look of absolute hatred on his face.

His eyes had a transparent, icy cold and heartless feel to them as he thrust his hand into Cole's chest, right above his heart, and started digging his fingers around in the hole he had created. A burning sensation followed, as if Zane's fingers had turned to molten rock.

"Stop!" Cole screamed as he fought against the grip on his arms. "I only did it to save you from a worse pain!" He ceased his struggles when the grip tightened and became too painful to fight against.

Zane took his fingers out of the hole and let out a laugh, so cold and merciless Cole's guts felt like they were twisting into knots. "How could any pain be worse than what you did to me?" The Nindroid asked. "I was disassembled by you, my best friend and brother." He spat on Cole's face. "There is no pain worse." He hissed. He dug a fingernail into Cole's arm, and a numbing sensation started crawling down to his fingers.

Zane was still sitting on his chest, somehow gripping both his arms and his chest as he continued ripping at the wound he had created in his fallen victim's shoulder. Cole vaguely wondered if he was dreaming.

The numbing started to take over Cole's body, crawling up out of his arm and into the shoulder area. It was coupled with another feeling, worse than the numbing or the pain that still dominated a portion of his torso and legs.

Despair. The feeling started where Zane had pricked him, bringing a new wave of a terrible, half-senseless pain to his wound and leeching into his heart before he fell into a deeper sleep, and was given some mild reprieve from the nightmare.

* * *

"I think we've done all that we can for Cole." Garmadon sighed. He looked at Misako. "Follow me, please. We need to get him into bed."

Misako nodded and ran to Garmadon's side as the elderly man picked up the unconscious ninja with ease and carried him out of the room. "Kai and Lloyd, get this room clean please." And they were gone.

Sensei Wu quickly put away the medical kit quickly and left the room without a word.

Kai looked at Lloyd and shrugged tiredly. "I guess I'll go and get the towels. He left the room and walked to the linen closet, holding onto the wall as he went because if he didn't, his diner make a reappearance, or his face would meet the floor. But most likely both, in that order.

He stopped at one point in the hallway and blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of his tunnel vision. He felt sick to his stomach and very exhausted. And his head hurt like...

He chuckled ruefully. His head hurt like someone had knocked him on the head with a blunt weapon. "Go figure." He mumbled as he leaned weakly against the wall.

He finally felt well enough to continue to the linen closet, and selected a few small towels. He took a deep breath, forcing his heart to slow its pace as he went back into the dining room. He slid the door open and passed one to Lloyd, and they began cleaning up the blood.

"Lloyd," Kai began after a moment. "What happened?" He started wiping off the table where Cole had been a few minutes ago. "Who did this?"

Lloyd shook his head. "It all happened so fast. You opened the door, got knocked unconscious by Pythor, we ran after you, and..." He paused a few seconds before continuing in a hushed tone. "And Overlord was in there." He looked at Kai. "I'm so confused. I wish I knew what was going on." He got onto his knees and cleaned up the red splotches on the floor. "Cyrus said he wouldn't let Overlord take his brother. Then..." His eyes filled with tears. "Then Cole suddenly jumped on Zane, saying something about cheating Destiny. He began ripping..." He sniffed. "You should have heard the sound that came out of Zane's mouth when Cole touched his heart. It..." He let a trickle of silent tears fall down his cheeks. "I'm so confused."

Kai's heart stung for this young man. He had no idea what it sounded like to hear Zane scream, and he hoped he never had to find out. "You okay, Lloyd?" He asked.

Lloyd got to his feet and wiped his eyes dry. "Yes. I'm fine." He sniffed lightly. "But...Is there something you guys haven't been telling me about this whole deal? What was Cole talking about?" He looked into Kai's shaking eyes and gasped. "You knew that the Overlord was coming, didn't you?"

Kai nodded, his brown eyes glittering with tears. "I'm sorry, Lloyd." He said. "I had no idea when he was coming, or where he would make his first appearance, but I knew."

Lloyd shook his head and sat down on the bench at the table. "You knew about a prophesy that directly pointed to me, and didn't tell any of us?" His voice grew in anger. "How did you even find out?"

Kai sighed. "The prophesy was actually more about Zane."

"Is that why Zane's been acting so weird?" Lloyd said, containing his annoyance. "He told you, but he didn't tell me?" He felt hurt.

Kai shook his head. "No, Zane didn't tell any of us." He felt sick to is stomach, and couldn't think straight. He felt like he was at the end of his rope, and he was going to slip into the abyss of insanity at any given moment. He collapsed on the bench next to Lloyd and buried his head in his hands. "Pixal, Cole and I looked at your mom's scrolls."

Lloyd gasped. "You...what?"

Kai nodded, not raising his head from the warm heat of his fingers. "I'm sorry. Zane was acting so...you know...and he wouldn't tell us what was wrong with him. So we took a wild guess, looked at your mom's prophesies and..." He couldn't continue. The tears fell down his face and sizzled as they came into contact with his rapidly heating hands. Why did Lloyd want to talk about this right now? All he could see in his closed eyelids was Cole's blood and Nya's face. He sniffed again. What was Scales doing to his sister? He wished they could just get the ship moving, so he could have her back.

Lloyd shook his head and smiled. "Honestly, I don't care that you snuck into my mother's scroll bag. But why wasn't I included in this? I suppose we've all just been too busy trying to find Jay and Nya, and I missed out?"

Kai started crying. Hearing his sister's name nearly made him lose his balance at the edge of the cliff. "Oh, Nya." He sniffed. He couldn't control himself anymore. Despair and fear started to take control.

Lloyd looked at Kai, bewildered. The ninja of fire was sliding over the edge fast. If Kai did fall, it would take a miracle to retrieve him before he hit the bottom of the chasm and shattered into a million irretrievable pieces.

"I know how you feel, Kai." Lloyd said softly. "Just-"

"No!" Kai said angrily. "You do not know how I feel!" He jumped to his feet and ran to Zane's side. He dropped to his knees in front of the droid and looked into its open panel, at Zane's pulsing heart. It was getting steadily brighter by the second.

Kai turned and glared at Lloyd. "I am the man who watched both his parents die tragically and untimely. I am the man who has lost his sister..." He choked on a sob. "Time and time again. Watched her come so close to death..." A short hiccuping sound escaped his throat. "Her in chains, held above a pool of lava, about to fall into their hot tongues...about to be lost to me forever. Her...tied to a roller coaster in an amusement park, of all places, about to fly off the track, and off a drop of hundreds of feet to a horrible death." He buried his head in his hands again, ceasing his rant for close to a minute to compose himself enough to make a coherent sentence. "And...and when we fell over the edge of that cliff on the Dark Island. Her face when we fell, leaving her at the mercy of those monsters." He sighed, voice muffled by his fingers. "Lloyd, you have everything. Parents who love you. Brothers ready to fight to the death by your side. But Nya...Nya only has me. And I-"

"You have us." Lloyd interrupted. "Don't you dare say you only have her. That couldn't be further from the truth." He tossed the soiled towel aside and knelt beside Kai. He grabbed the fire ninja's chin and lifted it, forcing him to look up into his eyes. "You have brothers, willing to go the distance to save you and your sister." He embraced Kai tightly. "Stay strong, brother." He said firmly.

Kai hesitated a moment before returning the embrace. "I'll try." He whispered.

"No, you won't _try_." Lloyd let go of Kai and locked eyes with him again. "You _will_."

Kai tried to avert his gaze but Lloyd grabbed his face and turned it to look at him again. "Do you hear me?" Lloyd stared at Kai intently.

"Okay." Kai said finally, breaking free of Lloyd's gaze. "I will."

Lloyd's arms wrapped around Kai's trembling form like a vice. He sighed and closed his eyes. That was too close. He had just barely reached Kai's hand before he could fall over the edge.

* * *

Jay forgot about his leg. He forgot about the snake who stood next to him. He forgot about the battle. All he saw was Nya. His friend. His dearest possession, his greatest joy, was on top of a building, knife pressed to her throat as Scales cackled evilly, amused by her futile struggles against his grip.

Jay's fingers shook at his sides, and he pressed them into fists to stop the distraction. "Let her go, you venomous monster!" Jay screamed up at him.

Nya's eyes locked on Jay's and his heart nearly stopped. There was so much terror in her brown orbs, he felt like he had gained a new spurt of energy, a fuel gained by rage and fear. He felt like he could tear down the building with his bare hands to get to her. And he would, if he needed to.

Scales clicked his tongue and shook his head in pity. "Why ssshould I?" He purred. "Why should I not jussst kill her now?" He looked at Mezmo. "Nice of you to leave her in that cell, instead of risking her pretty neck out here in the heat of battle."

Mezmo let out a venomous hiss and dropped his weapons. "She isss not your possession, Scales. Let her go." He gestured to the army behind him. "We have beaten you. Our army has killed more snakes than could be counted. You are defeated. Sssurender the crown and that girl."

Scales laughed maniacally. "No!" He twirled the knife in his hand and thrust it toward Nya's chest, Jay and Mezmo letting out a gasp as the blade flew toward her heart. Scales stopped the blade right before it reached her shirt and laughed again. "Scared you!" The knife traveled back up to her neck and tickled her chin. "But answer truthhhfully. What reason do I have to not jussst kill her, here and now?"

Mezmo let out a low hiss and clenched his fists. "You are truly a madman." He stomped the ground with his foot. "Right now, you have no reassson not to kill her."

Jay's heart really did stop this time as he looked at Mezmo in shock. "Mezmo, you're not helping!"

Mezmo ignored the ninja next to him. "But I can give you reasons."

Scales smiled, his fingers still playing with the knife at Nya's throat. "I'm listening."

Mezmo blinked slowly. "I will surrender. Return her to usss and I will take your punishment for my actions."

Scales chuckled. "Even if I killed you?"

"Yes!" Mezmo shouted. "Let her and the ninja go free, and you can do asss you please to me. But if you disagree." The snake's eyes grew hard and determined. "I will continue my attack, and kill you myssself, because you dared touch my sister."

Scales let out a laugh so loud it echoed through the city, reverberating off the walls. "Your sister? So all your plans come into the light. You don't want to continue our war with the surface dwellersss, do you?" His chuckle continued, and his army joined in on the fun.

"Let me asssk you, Mezmo." Scales said finally. "How do you think they will respond to that? Will the humans believe you when you say you've changed? Even if they do accept you, there will always be persecution. For hundreds of yearssss to come, if you became king, the humans would make you the king of the dump heap. King of the lower class. Usss snakes have done too much to ever forgive. And they have done too much to us for us to ever forgive them, as well. Face it, Mezmo." Scales pressed the blade into Nya's collarbone, drawing a prick of blood. "It wouldn't work."

Jay looked at Nya with an ever growing feeling of rage and terror. He kept his eyes locked on hers, as if breaking the gaze meant death.

Scales suddenly pulled the knife away from her skin and backed away, making Nya lose her balance and fall to her knees.

"I accept your offer, Mezmo." Scales said. He grabbed Nya's hair and they disappeared from view.

Jay looked at Mezmo with shock. "Why?" He said, "why would you do that?"

Mezmo looked at him cooly, as if his imminent death was a casual stroll. "You underssstand why I did it. You would do it too."

Jay had no objection there, but he felt hesitant to let the snake continue with the bargain. He saw Scales appear through a door and he faced the snake king.

Scaled slithered carefully around bodies and weapons and he made his way to where Jay and Mezmo stood. He stopped about five feet from them and smiled. "Ladies first." He shoved Nya, and she fell to the ground next to Mezmo's feet.

Nya got to her knees and looked next to her hand with a feeling of morbid delight. Her fingers wrapped around a short, dart-like knife hilt secretly as she held out her other hand to Jay, who had reached forward to grab her.

She let him pull her to her feet and just barely jumped away before he could trap her in an embrace.

Suddenly, in one fluid motion, she twirled her feet in the sand and flung the knife straight into Scale's chest. "Scared you." She hissed with malice.

The snake king let out a gurgling screech as he fell onto his back and, with the last of his strength, pulled out the knife that was embedded in his heart. His shaking fingers suddenly went limp, and there was complete silence in the city as they watched Scales' life blood drain from the tiny and life-leeching wound.

Having used up her energy resources, Nya fell into Jay's arms, panting heavily as he hugged her tightly and let out a cheer. Mezmo's hissing cry followed, and then the whole city broke into shouts of joy.

Jay and Nya embraced each other tightly.

"Well done, Nya." Jay exclaimed.

Mezmo laughed and slapped Nya's shoulder. "Well done indeed, sister!"

Nya unwrapped herself from Jay's embrace and went into Mezmo's open arms. "Thank you, Mezmo." She said, kissing his cheek. "You were willing to sacrifice yourself, and your dream, for a girl you only just met."

Mezmo laughed. "Well, a friend of mine once told me an act of kindness getsss repaid sevenfold." He wrapped his arms around and Jay. "You both have helped me achieve my dream, even when it meant risssking your own lives. You helped fight my battles and gave me a lot of encouragement."

Nya giggled and let go of Mezmo. "That friend of yours must have been very wise." She strode over to the body of the former snake king and snatched the crown from where it had fallen next to his head. She went back over to Mezmo, holding the shining object high, for every snake to see.

Mezmo knelt as she set the crown on his head. He looked up at her, and a sparkle appeared in his eyes as he got to his feet and took the Hypnobrai staff from Jay. His legs transformed into a tail, and the crowd broke into a chant. "Mezmo! Mezmo! Mezmo!" Everyone cheered as their new king held the staff high above his head.

Mezmo slammed it into the cobblestones with an echoing thud that silenced the crowd. "Fellow Serpentine!" He shouted, his voice carrying over the city. "I want to thank the Venomari and Constrictai tribes, for helping me reach this goal." He looked at the Venomari leader with his staff. "This general, Acidicus, wasss the first one to agree to join me. As a reward for his eagerness to help, I am appointing him my sssecond in command."

Many cheers erupted again as the Venomari general slithered up to his new king's side. He bowed low. "Thank you, sssir." He hissed, righting himself and taking his place beside Mezmo. "I will not disappoint you."

Mezmo chuckled. "I know you won't." He held out a hand, beckoning the two humans to approach him. "And I want to thank these two surface dwellersss." He grabbed Jay's shoulder and shook him in a friendly manner. "I owe this victory to them." He looked into Nya's eyes, which held a look of immense joy. "And I pardon them for any crimes they committed. They are free to leave whenever they want to go home."

Nya let out a laugh and leapt into Jay's arms, tears of relief flooding her eyes. She buried her face in his shoulder. "We can go home, Jay." Her voice rose to a eardrum-piercing screech as she giggled senselessly and kissed his cheek.

Jay wrapped his arms around her waist and let out his own senseless and very relieved laugh, because he had won the best prize ever possibly given to him while in captivity, and was now able to show it off to the world.

He had won Nya's heart, and her freedom from captivity.

* * *

Cole suddenly woke up and let out a loud, hacking cough that seemed to set his chest on fire. He inhaled sharply and grabbed his shoulder, grimacing from the pain as his eyes flew open with a shout that reverberated throughout the room, which was lit by a thin steak of moonlight.

He rubbed his face and forced himself to calm down, taking a deep breath that turned into another cry of pain, this one a little quieter than the first.

A tear fell down his cheek as he clenched his fists, arms rigid at his side as he remembered his dream. He moaned, too weak to stop the silent tears from blurring his vision.

The door suddenly flew open, a golden streak flying across the room. "Cole!" Lloyd exclaimed as he skidded to a stop at the bed. He grabbed Cole's shaking left hand and gripped it tightly, making Cole wince as the pressure triggered a nerve pain in his arm. "You're okay." His face held a look of immense relief.

"Hey, Cole." Kai walked into the room with a half smile, eyes red and tear stained from prolonged crying earlier. "How do you feel?"

Cole closed his eyes and wiped his face dry with his right hand. "I feel great. Now help me up. I'm going to find that snake and give him a verbal abuse so strong it'll have you guys covering your ears."

Kai sat down on the bed shakily and wiped his face on his sleeve. "I'll help you with that one, brother. That snake needs to learn a lesson or two." He put a finger on Cole's collarbone. "But you're staying out in bed. You wouldn't believe how much blood you lost. It's going to take days for you to recover enough to function normally and get back into a schedule."

Cole looked into his eyes and grew a look of annoyance, but it quickly changed to consternation. "Kai, have you been crying?" He said softly.

Kai nodded and sniffed, putting his hand back on his lap. "Yeah. I guess so." He forced a smile. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with, though. Right now we have bigger problems than our out of control emotions. We need to get back down to Julien's workshop and find the pieces to fix Zane."

Cole's face darkened. "Yes." He whispered. He squeezed Lloyd's hand and let go. He tried to move his hand off of the mattress and up onto his bare chest, but ended up grimacing again in pain when he attempted to move. He let out a long, sad sigh and swallowed a lump in his throat. "I wonder if Zane will ever forgive me." He whispered.

Lloyd looked surprised. "Why would he not?"

Kai nodded in agreement. "I've never know him to hold a grudge in my life. I doubt he'll start now."

Cole breathed deeply and let it out so slowly it hurt his lungs. "I don't believe you." He said tersely.

Lloyd looked doubtful. He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it with a snap. The scream Zane had emitted earlier that day made its way into his memory, making him shudder and see double for just a moment. He blinked and looked at Cole, who stared into his eyes with a hurt expression.

"Even you don't believe yourself." Cole said quietly, his own eyes shaking slightly.

Kai's eyes traveled between the two ninjas, wondering more than ever what went down in that fight with Pythor and Overlord. But the burning torment in his mind and heart prevailed, making him jump to his feet with frustration. "Guys!" He shouted, making them jump and Cole wince with pain again as his muscles spasmed.

Kai glared at Lloyd. "My sister is still out there with those snakes. Zane is still in the kitchen with a failing heart. And who knows where Jay is?" He threw his hands in the air. "Let's have a staring contest and guessing game after this is all over, and we can laugh about it." His eyes took on a crazed, glazed over quality and he fell to his knees. He shook his head. "Lloyd, it isn't working." His forced himself not to cry as he beat the floor with his fists.

Cole looked at Lloyd and raised his eyebrow. Lloyd met Cole's gaze momentarily before moving away from the bed. He stood next to Kai and held out his hand to him. "Kai," he began. "You are right. I'm sorry. We need to get moving." He reached down further and grabbed Kai's fist, stopping it from ramming into the floor again.

Kai looked up at him angrily and tried to break free of the strong ninja's grasp. He finally gave up and his arm went limp, but he didn't break Lloyd's gaze. He tried with all of his strength to look away, but there was something in the green eyes that seemed to force him into harsh sobriety.

He let out a long sigh. "Let's get going then." He grasped Lloyd's hand firmly and let the golden ninja pull him to his feet. He let go of Lloyd's hand and walked toward the door. "Zane doesn't have much time. Let's get his parts first, and we can fix him on the way to Ourobourus." He strode through the door without looking back.

Lloyd's feet shuffled for a moment before he sighed and walked over to Cole again. "He's not going to last much longer, Cole." He said quietly as he examined Cole's shoulder.

Cole watched Lloyd's hands run over the stitched skin, wincing at the light touch. "I can see that." He pushed his head into the pillow and grated his teeth as Lloyd moved his arm, sending pricks of pain shooting through his body. "The wound looks almost healed, but it hurts like the knife is still in it, digging all around inside my chest and arm." He moaned. "What's up with that?"

Lloyd grabbed an ointment jar from the table next to him, assuming that Misako must have left it there after his parents had put him to bed an hour ago.

He opened the jar and stuck two of his fingers into the sticky substance. "I used my powers. I'm not sure how much of the muscle I healed, but the skin is whole. No infection can get in now, so we didn't need to wrap it." He rubbed his fingers over the small pink scar and got it sufficiently treated.

Cole moaned in delight as the cool ointment soaked into his raw skin. "What healing powers?" He asked.

Lloyd rubbed his fingers on his pants, getting the slimy ooze off of his hand quickly. "The same power that I healed my leg with when I defeated the Overlord two years ago." He gently grabbed Cole's torso. "Let me help you turn over, Cole." He said. "That knife went straight through you. I need to treat the other side."

After a lot of moaning and groaning, Lloyd finally got Cole onto his stomach.

The injured ninja gritted his teeth and buried his face in the pillow. "Hurry up, Lloyd." He grumbled. "I need to cry like a six year old, and I don't think you'd like to see it."

Lloyd chuckled. "I believe it." He quickly got the second scar treated. "Ready? I can turn you over now."

Cole groaned. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

Lloyd turned him onto his back again as gently as possible, but a few tears still escaped Cole's eyes, which he held pressed shut as his chest heaved.

Cole finally stopped panting and opened his eyes. "Go...go help Kai." He squeezed Lloyd's hand with his good arm. "I'm putting you in charge," he said, locking eyes with Lloyd, "get Zane's pieces, save Jay and Nya, wherever they are. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

Lloyd nodded and squeezed his friend's hand back. "Yes sir."

Cole smiled, his pale face brightening a bit, just to lighten Lloyd's mood. "Don't just stand there, go take command."

Lloyd beamed. "Will do, Cole. Thank you." He let go of Cole's hand and ran to find Kai.

* * *

The Overlord let out a laugh as he took his first step in his new body. His foot landed in the middle of the puddle of Cole's blood. "Finally, Pythor." He cackled. "Oh, I can finally begin where I left off two years ago." He looked at his trembling henchman. "I can finally rule Ninjago, now that I am a part of this world entirely."

Pythor blinked and swallowed. "But how are you going to do that, sir?" He slithered around the pool of blood carefully and joined his master at the door.

The Overlord looked at Pythor and smiled, making the snake shudder. He noted that when the robot, Cyrus, had been in charge of this body, the smile looked warm and rather handsome. Pythor could not believe that Overlord was able to corrupt even the features of this artificial body, and make them look grotesque and completely wrong.

The body itself hasn't changed color or shape, but Pythor supposed that the personality was what really cut the cake when it came to how you looked on the outside.

Overlord crossed his arms over his chest. "How do you think I'm going to do it, worm?" He said rather pleasantly, his green eyes shining with apparent malice. "I'm going to kill the lightning ninja first."

Pythor raised an eyebrow. "Why him?"

"Because." Overlord said. "Thanks to the earth ninja, the keeper of the ice element is out of commission. And you, I must say, handled yourself pretty well with that knife. I doubt Cole will survive either." He began walking down the pavement. "I have learned from my mistakes. The golden ninja is too strong when he is with his companions. I must kill them all separately. The keeper of the lightning element is the only other one I have to worry about besides Lloyd. Jay will be easy, since he is most likely alone."

Pythor swallowed his vomit as he saw the Overlord's footprints splashing red behind him from the blood. "But what about the fire ninja, Kai?" He asked.

The Overlord laughed again. "That man is at the edge of his sanity. I could sense the unrest in his mind when I floated over him during the fight. He will break. And I predict that it will happen before we even find the lightning ninja. He will be broken and useless to Lloyd by the time I challenge the spinjitsu master to a battle."

"So how do we find the blue ninja?" Pythor asked.

Overlord growled. "Stop asking questions." He sighed. "But I will answer this one, just because I'm in a good mood. I can just sense the presence of their elements. You may remember that the other day, you asked me if the ninja were here in the city, and I said no. Well, now you know how I knew. And I can sense that the lightning ninja is in the Sea of Sand. I can feel the lightning element strongly from that direction." Overlord strode forward, gesturing for Pythor to follow. "Hurry up. We can steal a bus or a car on the way, to save time. I just wish I could use my old body and return to my dragon form. But all things must end, I suppose."

Overlord chuckled as he began running through the trees. "And the reign of the ninja has come to a close."

* * *

**A little sunshine through the clouds for y'all with those snakes. It's been a while since I've given the poor ninjas a victory. **

**Review please!**

**And just a note on the side: All of you who read '**_Nya's Journey To Where She Is Today'_**, I need names for the twins! Can you give me some cute ones? I'm doing a sequel! I'm thinking it'll be a girl and a boy. **

_Zane: And if you haven't read it already, please do. It's one of my favorites. _

_Jay: Well it's my least favorite. Don't you dare read it. I didn't like Cole's flirting. _

_Cole: You wouldn't, Jay. I liked it. But I got a deja vu from star wars. _

_*Kai punches his face* _

_Zane: I do not see any ties between the two stories. _

_Kai: you wouldn't, C3PO. _

_Zane: That wasn't nice. _

_Jay: I don't know, its a sorta cool idea. *gasps* Let's do a Lord of the Rings! I'm Eragorn! _

_Lloyd: And Nya can be Eowynn!_

_Cole: I say Zane is Legolas. And Kai is Boromir. _

_Kai: *punches cole's face again.* No, I'm Eragorn! _

_*...Awkward silence...*_

_Cole: Star wars deja vu. _

_Lloyd: Yup. Wait...Would I be Frodo? who would be Sam? You can't make a LOTR story without Sam! He holds it all together! _

_Brad: Me!_

_Lloyd: How did you get in here? _

_Brad: It's national Bring Your Gardener to Work Day! _

_Lloyd: *facepalm* _

_Cole: He has a point. Sam was a gardener. It could work._

**...Are you done?**

_Zane: Most certainly not. I want to be Legolas! _

**Too bad. I'm too busy to write up one of those. **

_Zane: Please? _

**Nope. You know that story was like...150,000 words long...per book...right? If I made one, it would basically be an overview of all three books condensed into one short story. Cole, please talk some sense into him. **

_Cole: I'm Gimli. _

**Really?! **

_Jay: Let's have a petition, all you fans out there. If we get twenty or more comments saying you'd love to see me hit it off with an elf, Astrid will make a story about it. _

_Cole: I'm Gimli. _

_Kai: ugh. Fine. I'm Boromir. But Garmy will be Sauroman. _

***facepalm* I accept. But I'm making my own terms. I want to hear something about what you liked about Overlord's revenge in EACH comment! So it would look something like this:**

_**"I liked how you stabbed Cole, and I wanna see Kai get killed by Overlord next chapter. I'm signing the LOTR petition." **_

_Kai: Wow. That was a terrible comment. Don't make them sound like that. _

**You just didn't like the part when I said I wanted to see you get killed. **

_Kai: Maybe. _

**Well, there you have it. Tell me what you liked, sign the petition, and read **_Nya's Journey To Where She Is Today. _

_Zane: Yes. Please do. I liked it a lot. The epilogue was my favorite part. _

_Kai: Thank you. We got that already. _

**Oookaaay. I'm done. And please stop fighting, you two. **

Zane and Kai: Nope.


	14. Fire Without Oxygen

**Please review! This is more of a filler chapter. Nothing incredibly important or gruesome happens here, but it's still cute, and you will feel a little lost if you skip it. So don't.**

**And Lordstarscream22, your review made me laugh. Yes.** _Now _**I name the chapters. LOL. It'll be easier for you guys to go back and find things now. **_  
_

* * *

Lloyd and Kai carefully snuck through the trees, being extra careful in case the Overlord was still in the building.

"Lloyd?" Kai's voice hissed as he pointed to the front of he building. "Look."

Lloyd saw what Kai was pointing at and felt sick to his stomach again. "Is that bloody footprints?" He whispered back.

Kai nodded, looking rather pale. "And they lead away from here. I don't think the Overlord is here anymore."

Lloyd looked at the direction of the footprints. They went down the road, toward town. "What do we do?" He moaned. "I need to stop him from doing...whatever it is he's got planned. But I feel like saving Zane is more important." He looked at Kai questioningly. "Is that wrong?"

Kai nodded. "I know how you feel." He thought for a moment. "I think that we definitely need..." His face went pale. "Oh, no." He moaned softly. "The prophesy."

"What?" Lloyd asked.

Kai looked scared. "I...I think Cole fulfilled the prophesy. Destiny is most likely laughing in his face." He took a deep breath. "The scroll I saw. It said that the three guardians of the elemental weapons will go against the Overlord and defeat him again."

Lloyd's face grew as pale as Kai's. "And Zane was the ninja not included in that prophesy? Was he supposed to be Overlord's hostiam?"

Kai shrugged. "It had a picture of you, me, Cole and Jay, then a white figure at the top of the screen in a cloud of purple and red. We all assumed it was Zane."

Lloyd groaned. "Cyrus is wearing white, isn't he?" He placed his hand against a tree and collected his breath. "We're okay. We can do this." He said, certain his words were falling on deaf ears. He thought for a moment. "Well, if Cole and Jay were in the scroll, that's a good sign at least. It means that we will find Jay again, and that him and Cole will be able to fight." He sighed. "If Cole was in the picture, depicted as helping me defeat Overlord, that means that he will be healed before the battle begins. Which also means that I shouldn't chase Overlord down right now. Let him run. He'll be back." He continued slowly. "So that leaves us with two options. Go and save Zane, or go and rescue Jay and Nya." He looked at the quiet building in front of him. "But the prophesy says that Zane..." He couldn't bring himself to say it. He swallowed hard. "I still think we should at least try to save him. If we don't, we'll regret it the rest of our lives."

Kai nodded. "I couldn't agree more, brother." He began walking, gesturing for Lloyd to follow. "I think I know where Julien kept the blueprints. We can find Zane's, grab a bunch of pieces, and get him to a point where we can get him on his feet again while we travel to Ouroborous." He sighed, carefully avoiding the dried blood splatters on the ground. "If Destiny is merciful enough to spare him."

Lloyd followed behind Kai, also keeping his distance from the footprints. He found himself hoping that the blood was Pythor's, and was shocked by his thoughts. He had never wished such a thing in his life, and hoped he never would again. Besides, he knew that the pool was Cole's. He had seen it himself.

They entered the room and Kai gasped. "Lloyd." He said quietly. "Julien is skewered on the wall." He found himself unable to pull his eyes away from the gruesome sight. The corpse was at least a day old, and looked every minute of it. He shook his head, appalled by the cruelty dealt in this room. He sidestepped a drying puddle of blood and swallowed. "Is that Cole's blood? With the footprints coming out of it?"

Lloyd looked at the puddle in question. "Yes it is." He shuffled through a cabinet, trying to keep from screaming from the pressure that the room seemed to be pushing upon him from all sides. The room stunk of death and decay, making it impossible to think straight. "Found the blueprints," he said, holding up an old and careworn slip of paper. He looked at it, and whatever hope he had left abandoned him with his groan. "Kai, I can't understand this at all." He said. "How do we fix Zane when we don't even know what is wrong with him?"

Kai joined him and looked at the sheet of paper. "Just start grabbing pieces that the paper shows in his body. I noticed that frayed and missing wires was the worst of it. But..." He looked at the floor and noticed the two green pieces of Zane's circuit board. He bent over and picked them up, losing his original train of thought. "Where do you find these, Lloyd? He needs one of these."

Lloyd nodded and reached into the drawer where they were held. He shuffled through and found one, holding it up for presentation.

Kai took it with a nod. "Okay..." He closed his eyes and remade two versions of Zane's cavity in his mind, of both before the break and after. He opened his eyes and looked at the designs again. "I think I know what pieces we need."

* * *

The medical building was filled to the maximum with wounded Serpentine soldiers, some of which were sleeping, but others lie wide awake, either because they weren't tired, or because the pain of their wounds kept them from having a peaceful rest.

Nya held two buckets of water in her hands, fresh from the Ourobourus well, to give to the wounded to drink.

There were several other snakes around the large room, bustling around as she was, wielding bandages and bottles of homemade ointments.

Nya wasn't sure what was in the bottles, but they sure seemed to work well. She had watched a snake treat Jay's leg wound with a bottle of the stuff, and was surprised to find that it looked immensely better only about three hours later, when she had returned from her rounds as a volunteer nurse to check on him.

She set down the buckets and wiped her brow. Even in the hours after midnight, when the moon shone high in the upper reaches of the heavens, it must have been at least eighty degrees outside.

The indoor areas weren't much better. If anything, they were worse, since there was almost no breeze ventilating the large room except for what the few windows that were open, by tender mercies of the snakes, let in.

Nya looked down the long rows of wounded, illuminated by the dim torchlight. She quickly spotted Jay, who slept peacefully on a small cot, with that parasitic smile still puckering up his lips. She realized, without much surprise, that she had actual seen Jay frown earlier that day.

She shuddered and fingered her chest, where the scab from Scale's knife had penetrated her skin at the collarbone. She resisted the urge to pick at it and decided that her hands needed something else to do besides hinder a natural healing process.

She scanned the rows of soldiers and targeted a few of the awake ones, most of which were talking in hushed voices. Every once and a while, she would hear a light chuckle from different areas of the room, as the restless snakes conversed and tried to cheer each other up.

Nya grabbed a tray of crudely made clay cups and quickly filled them from her buckets, deciding the best way to help at this point would just be to make the patients more comfortable.

She walked down the rows and stopped at each snake who was awake, offering the cool liquid to each of them in turn. She had to help a few of them drink, simply because they were too weak to even sit up themselves. There had been a lot of blood lost that day, and hardly a one snake was not affected in one way or an other.

Nya walked up to a Hypnobrai snake, who had a bandage over both his eyes. "Would you like some water?" She said kindly.

The snake nodded and tried to sit up. Nya set down her tray of now mostly empty cups and helped the large snake sit up so he could drink. She put a cup in his hands and patiently helped him guide the cup to his face, since he was blinded.

The snake drank the glass gratefully. "Thank you." He allowed her to take the glass, then paused when he felt her fingers. "What are you? Your voice is strange. And your skin as well. It is soft and hasss no scales."

Nya chuckled. "You're not the first to say my voice is strange." She allowed the blue snake to pet her hand out of pity. "I am a human."

The snake paused. "You are kind, for a human." He said softly. "Are you the prisoner that Scalesss had kept in the dungeon?"

Nya nodded, then realized the snake could not see her movements. "Yes. I am." She pulled her hand away gently and helped him lay back down. "Get better soon." She said.

The snake shook his head. "I'm not going to get better." He said, voice cracking with grief.

Nya set the cup on the tray and picked it up off the floor. "Don't say that. Of course you will."

The snake pounded the side of the bed with his fist. "No. They sssaid so. I will be blind for the rest of my life." His voice was full of sorrow. "If I were any other kind of snake, I sssuppose it would have been okay. But I'm a Hypnobrai. My special talent has to do with eyes. What kind of a Hypnobrai hasss no hypnotic powers?" He sniffed. "I can't mesmerize what I can't sssee."

Nya patted his hand, feeling a little awkward and unable to think of the right words to say. Empathy had never been her strong suit. "You...you can find something else to excel at, then. You could have a special talent that no one else in your tribe has." She smiled brightly, trying to incorporate that joyful look into her tone so he could hear it. "You will think of something. You snakes are intelligent." She grimaced, knowing she had lied through her teeth by saying that.

But it obviously made the blind snake feel better, because he flashed a weak smile in the direction of her voice. "Thank you."

"Your welcome." Nya said. "Now, I've got other patients to hydrate. If you'll excuse-"

"Wait." The snake held out his hand a moment, as if to try and grab her, and keep her near him. "What isss your name, human?"

"Nya." She shifted the position of the unbalanced tray on her fingers.

"Nya." The snake ran the name over his tongue. "Thank you, Nya." He sighed. "I don't want to keep you waiting any longer. Go and take care of the othersss."

Nya turned and walked to the next patient, a Constrictai with a wounded arm.

She put a cup in the Constrictai's good hand. The other one was in a bandage held close to his bare, scaly chest. She watched him slowly drink the glass, then took it from him when he was done. The snake nodded a thanks, and Nya smiled in return.

"Hey, Nya." Jay said behind her, making her jump.

She whirled around and looked at the ninja with a gasp. "Jay! You need a bell!" She glared coldly at him, only making Jay laugh.

"If I had a bell, I wouldn't be a ninja. I'd be the mailman." He took a glass of water from the tray and took a sip. Thank you, m'lady." He beamed.

Nya couldn't do anything but return the smile. It was infectious. "Just like a parasite." She said to herself with a light laugh, a little louder than intended.

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Come again?" He took another sip.

Nya giggled. "I've just had this idea lately that your smile sticks to your face like a parasite. And then you smiled at me just now, I couldn't do anything but smile back. It's infectious."

Jay laughed. "Well. It's nice to know my best friend likens my smile to worms."

Nya was suddenly put on the defensive. "I didn't say that!"

"You did too." Jay took the tray from her hands and set it on the floor. The smile remained fixed on his face as he looked at Nya mischievously. "And I don't think parasites are contagious, by the way. They are living animals."

Nya rolled her eyes as Jay wrapped his arms around her. "Whatever. So I know nothing about science."

"It's common knowledge!" Jay joked. "Parasites and germs are two totally different things." He kissed her cheek and hugged her closely to his body. "Although, I suppose a parasite could carry germs on it."

Nya pinched his arm playfully. "They sound the same to me." She suddenly gasped. "Jay. You're out of bed."

He laughed. "And you should be in bed. You must be tired. You're just now noticing my body's placement in the room?" He intertwined his fingers with hers. "Let's go outside. It's stifling in here."

Nya glanced at the tray on the floor. "I should finish my work."

Jay pulled her away from the tray, limping slightly as he walked. "Nope. There's plenty of snakes around here to do that, and you've been doing a great job all day. You need a break."

Nya complied reluctantly. "Okay," she squeezed his fingers and ran with him outside.

The warm breeze hit their faces and they sighed in unison, relishing in the luxury of the open air. It was a thing they had both sorely missed while they were in captivity underground.

"Jay," Nya began as they strolled through town. The streets had been cleared of the bodies hours ago, leaving the area once again fairly pretty and peaceful. "Where is your elemental blade? I hope you didn't lose it."

Jay moaned and gave himself a facepalm. "Drat this amnesia. I forgot about it." He sighed. "The snakes most likely took it from me in Birchtree forest. Perhaps Mezmo will know. I'll ask him tomorrow."

Nya sighed. "Good enough for me. He's probably asleep right now anyways."

Jay nodded. "Yeah." He looked up and saw a ladder that ascended to a roof above them. "Hey. Wanna go up there?" He pointed.

Nya follows his finger. "Sure." She suddenly let go of his hand and made a break for the ladder. "See you at the top, sucker." She giggled as she climbed.

Jay laughed and ran after her. "No fair." He scaled the ladder after her, wincing every time he landed on his right foot. "There's no way I can pass you on this narrow thing."

Nya reached the top and disappeared from his field of vision.

Jay reached the top moments later and found her standing in the middle of the roof, still giggling like a schoolgirl. He let out another laugh and began chasing her around the moonlit stone structure.

She was fast, but Jay was faster. He caught up with her within seconds and tackled her, pinning her to the ground and tickling her with frenetic energy.

"You meant the candy kind of sucker, right?" Jay said, grabbing her arms and moving them so he could continue his tickle attack. "Sweet, and totally awesome?"

"Sure! Whatever!" Nya laughed uncontrollably and wriggled as his fingers found her sensitive stomach nerves. "Let me up!"

Jay stopped tickling her and helped her up. "Fine." He sat down on his seat and looked at the sky. "Look at all those stars, Nya." He said, quickly forgetting his tickle attack, his amnesia kicking in mildly again. "They're a lot easier to see here than in Ninjago city."

Nya nodded and sat down next to him, giving him a one armed hug with her right hand. Jay wrapped his left arm around her shoulder and sighed as he squeezed her tightly.

Nya looked at him mischievously and dug her fingers into his side. She started tickling him with ferocity. "Payback!" She tackled him to the ground and sat on top of him.

Jay wriggled out of her grip and got to his feet, panting for breath and still chortling loudly. "Nya!" He exclaimed with a smile.

"What?" She smiled and sat back down.

Jay rolled his eyes and sat down next to her again cautiously.

But Nya appeared to be quite done with her antics, and actually looked quite tired. She let out a yawn and fell onto his lap.

Jay grimaced in pain. "Nya, careful. My leg still hurts. A lot." He gently pulled her head off of his injured leg and pulled her into his lap.

Nya allowed him to move her position gently. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Just please be more careful." Jay wrapped his arms around her, and they both sat in silence for several minutes as they watched the stars above them shine brightly, as if they were enjoying the night as much as the couple was.

Nya let out a loud yawn and closed her eyes, hoping she could fall asleep. She was so exhausted, she felt like she could sleep on gravel if she had to.

"Nya?" Jay's voice was quiet and soft.

"Yes?"

Jay breathed in and out deeply before continuing. "When will we go home?"

Nya's eyes opened slowly. "I...I suppose we could leave tomorrow. The others are probably worried sick." She paused. "Kai especially."

Jay nodded. "Yeah. I'm worried about how Kai's been taking your kidnapping." He sighed. "After you were taken, he collapsed on the floor and wouldn't get up, or even move, for several minutes. And after he did finally get on his feet," Jay swallowed hard. "His eyes looked sort of...psychotic and crazed. And broken." He hugged Nya tighter. "I think he's lost you one too many times to be good for his health."

Nya was shocked. She recalled all the times that she had been taken before, and Kai's reactions afterward. Every time she had been rescued, the hugs had become a little longer, and a lot more emotional. It all made sense now. "We need to get back soon." Nya stated, a shiver running down her spine despite the heat. "I wonder if we could find someone who could take us tonight in a car, or perhaps a helicopter?"

Jay shrugged. "I'm sure we could. Do you want to go now, instead of tomorrow morning?"

Nya nodded. "Yes. I want to make sure Kai, and everyone else, are okay. I don't think I'll be able to sleep restfully without knowing they're not hurt." She hesitated. "Mentally or physically."

Jay gently pushed her off of his lap. "Let's get going then. We can find Mezmo and tell him."

Nya rolled off of his lap and stood up. She held out her hand and Jay took it gratefully. He had worn out his leg climbing the ladder, and was feeling exceptionally sore.

Nya got to the edge of the roof and jumped the twenty or so feet to the ground, doing a barrel roll to soften her landing. She got to her feet. "Take the ladder, Jay." She called up. "I don't think you should be stressing your wound with that jump."

Jay let out a short laugh and jumped despite the warning. He landed on the ground gracefully and got to his feet after a few rolls. "I'm fine." He grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. "Mezmo's house is probably at the center of town."

Nya watched his gait and rolled her eyes. He was limping a lot more now than he was on the roof. "Jay." She said shortly.

The blue ninja stopped and looked at her quizzically. "Yes?"

Nya stared into his eyes, making sure he was paying attention. "First of all," she said. "You're not fine. No more leaping from tall buildings just to impress me. 'Cuz it just looks ridiculous. And secondly," she pointed behind them with her thumb at a small building. "I believe Mezmo is the other way."

Jay laughed and blushed. "Sorry." He intertwined their fingers and took a step in the direction she had pointed.

Nya held her ground. "I wasn't finished, Jay."

Jay stopped and sighed. "What else did I do?" He looked at her tiredly.

Nya shrugged nonchalantly. "I just wanted to ask you. Do you remember that conversation we had a few days ago? On Zane's birthday, and you made some comment about kids that made my brother angry?"

Jay glared at her. "How could I forget? I saw my life flash before my eyes."

Nya laughed lightly. "I believe it," she squeezed his hand. "How many kids were you wanting?" She watched his face for the reaction that was slow in coming.

Jay blinked several times as he processed this. He suddenly let out a gasp and let go of her hand, backing away in surprise. "You...I...what?" He stuttered, the smile growing so large it covered his face. "You mean it?"

Nya laughed. "You bet." Her face contorted comically as she pretended to be serious. "We just have to ask my brother."

Jay let out a cry so full of joy and delight Nya was sure he had woken up every snake in the city. He grabbed her waist and spun her in a circle, now completely oblivious to the pain in his leg.

Nya let out a laugh, full of an equal amount of joy and mirth as her hair flew into her face, not caring if ever soul in Ninjago woke up from the sound that emitted from their mouths.

Jay set her down and hugged her tightly. "As many as possible, Nya." He said, tears pouring down his cheeks and onto her shoulder. "I want as many kids as possible."

* * *

**It has become apparent to me that I'm the only one in the world that likes NyCole. So here you go, a victory for you Jaya fans. But I'm becoming a fan of Zaya...don't ask...it just seems cute to me. And so far, I've gotten three other people who agree wholeheartedly. (Yay!)**

**Leave a comment! And don't forget the petition. It doesn't count if you sign it twice. **

**I'm thinking that Wu could be Gandalf! Dareth is Gollum, of course. Who else? **

_Cole: And I'm Gimli. _

**You don't say. **

_Dareth: My precious...*hugs a trophy*_

**Sigh...Okay... So my next big Ninjago story is going to be a bit of a crossover between Ninjago characters and medical times. Example: King Garmadon, Queen Misako, Prince Lloyd. And instead of ninjas, Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane will be knights! It's pretty cool, and I've already written a part of the first chapter. Here's an ****excerpt:**

Heart pounding. Adrenaline rushing. Coursing through Kai's veins, fighting with his head, trying to make him lose his focus. He took a well-balanced step toward his opponent and continued a series of counter-attacks, warding off the blade of his opponent, who seemed intent on making sure his evil blade stuck home, the two blades shining brightly as they clashed in the light of the brightly shining sun. Their blades eventually drew apart, and they circled each other once again, treading lightly on the soft, well-kept grass, that seemed to be waiting patiently for the two adversaries to leave so the courtyard would once again be peaceful and full of birdsong.

Kai stared into his opponent's eyes. Greyish-blue eyes, eyes that shone with a light and a wisdom that told his young opponent to watch his step. Eyes that seemed to say, 'one _wrong move, and you will be dead_.'

Kai held up his sword and continued circling the man, who's greying hair was dripping with sweat from exertion, and the heat of the noonday sun. The young man waited for an opening, slowly losing his patience as they continued breathing heavily...watching each other...and waiting for the opening in the other's defenses that was sure to come...

**How was that? I'd like to hear feedback (on Overlord's Revenge and the new idea.) **


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